Wonderland
by SPNWinchesters
Summary: The winter months had been approaching fast now and the remaining 100 had taken to sharing tents to share body heat and prevent frostbite and hypothermia in the dead of the night. A Bellarke Drabble turned full length story. :)
1. Chapter 1

**I just love writing Bellarke drabbles! :) I'm thinking of starting a full length story about the 100 and could use some suggestions, such as whether it should be an OC story and when it should be set! PM suggestions are definitely welcome. Everyone have a safe and lovely Thanksgiving! :D**

Clarke had always been an early riser, even as a child. On the Ark, it was impossible to tell what time it was unless you looked at the clock. But here on Earth, Clarke arose with the sun, sometimes even before it.

It was brighter than normal when Clarke awoke, not to mention absolutely frigid. The winter months had been approaching fast now and the remaining 100 had taken to sharing tents to share body heat and prevent frostbite and hypothermia in the dead of the night. But none of them were prepared for the bright white wonderland that greeted them that particular morning.

Clarke wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she hadn't passed off the several furs offered to her, choosing to give them to the younger children and the people with no body fat. Not that Clarke had an inordinate amount of body fat herself, but some of the girls here were thin as rails.

Pushing her tent flap open, Clarke gazed in awe around her. The entire camp and beyond was covered with white powder, resting peacefully atop the tents and the drop ship. It had to be a few inches at least. Clarke shielded her eyes against the brightness, smiling as two of the kids ran by throwing the powder at each other.

"Snow's pretty great, huh?" A voice sounded beside her. Clarke turned to see Octavia standing next to her, a huge smile on her tanned face. "My brother is looking for you. He's in the drop ship." Clarke nodded her thanks and trudged towards the drop ship, ignoring the sting of the cold air on her face.

When she entered the drop ship, Bellamy was leaning over a boy who looked no older than fourteen. At her entrance, he glanced up, gnawing on his lip.

"I found him in his tent like this. He won't wake up." Clarke moved towards the boy as Bellamy stepped out of the way. She leaned down, listening for a breath. There was none. She placed her fingers against his neck, feeling his pulse move sluggishly under her fingers before coming to a halt. She glanced up at Bellamy and silently shook her head. "He wasn't sharing with anyone. God dammit." He turned away, rubbing a bright red hand down his cold face. "We're not prepared for this, Clarke." He turned back around to stare at her in the eyes. Before she could answer, however, his eyes narrowed. "Is that the only jacket you've got?" She hadn't even noticed that she was only wearing a thin T-shirt and the jacket she'd come down here with. "Dammit Clarke, we can't survive without you. You need to take better care of yourself." With a flourish, Bellamy had shed his outer coat, revealing another underneath it, and dropped it over her shoulders. It was warm already and smelled like Bellamy, a mix of dirt and the forest and his own unique scent. Clarke almost inhaled before halting herself. What had gotten into her?!

"We can't bury this body. The ground's frozen." Clarke murmured, slipping her arms through the sleeves. She wondered how Bellamy had gotten the other jacket he was wearing. The one he'd given her was the first one he'd had when they launched. She figured the other must be Atom's or something. "We're just going to have to put it in the snow and preserve it until the ground thaws enough." Bellamy shuddered at the thought, but nodded, knowing it was the only logical explanation.

"Fine. If you can help it, don't leave the drop ship. I don't need you getting sick." Bellamy snapped before leaving her alone. A few seconds later, Miller and another boy appeared to take the body. Clarke greeted them softly and watched them carry the lifeless form out of the drop ship.

"_If you can help it don't leave the drop ship."_ Clarke mocked in an immature tone, sticking her tongue out at nothing. "He can't tell me what to do." She mutter to herself, letting her pride get the best of her. "Besides, we need more seaweed." Before she was even halfway through the camp, Bellamy was standing in front of her, arms crossed.

"And where exactly are you going?" He snapped, glaring down at her with angry brown eyes. "If I remember correctly, I told you to stay put." He reminded her. "Seriously, Princess, I can't keep you safe if you won't even listen to me. Do yourself a favor and just stay in the drop ship. Please." Clarke rolled her eyes, but turned on her heel and stormed towards the drop ship. Besides, the lake was more than likely frozen anyway.

When night fell and Clarke retired to her tent, she immediately crawled under the furs she'd gathered and bunched herself into a small ball. As the sun had set, the air had become biting cold and the 100 had hurried to their community tents to become warm. Clarke wished she were mashed in between several other warm bodies, instead of alone, but there was no more room in any of the tents.

Her tent flap suddenly pulled open and Bellamy's broad shoulders were taking up the entirety of the canopy. He frowned before jerking his head over his shoulder and leaving the tent. Clarke reluctantly pulled her boots back on and followed, pulling his jacket tighter around her slim shoulders.

She followed Bellamy into his tent, where he threw off his boots and fell back onto the makeshift mattress.

"You just gonna stand there? Come on." He patted the mattress next to him. Clarke flushed and took a step back, immediately shaking her head.

"W-what do you mean? I'm not going to sleep with you, Bellamy!" She almost shrieked, looking down. Her hands were shaking, but she wasn't sure it was from the frigid air, which had numbed her entire face and all of her digits. Bellamy rolled his eyes.

"That's not what I want anyway, Princess." He snapped. "You're going to die if you try to sleep in your tent alone, and I'm not going to let that happen." Clarke flushed at the soft tone he'd taken towards the end of his sentence. "You're our only doctor." He tacked onto the end of his sentence, looking away. "Your face is almost void of all color. Get over here." Without hesitation, Clarke kicked her shoes off and crawled into Bellamy's bed. As he settled his furs over the two of them, she became aware of the icy stinging in her face. Her body trembled with shivers minutely and Bellamy sighed through his nose before throwing his arms around her and pulling her close. Her cold face pressed into his neck and he winced slightly. She really was freezing.

"I'm cold." She murmured softly against his neck, her fingers slipping under his shirt to search for the warmth his body emitted. He shivered, but he wasn't entirely sure it was from her cold digits.

"I can see that, Princess." He breathed against her frozen hair, tucking her head under his chin and rubbing her back to warm her up. "Get some sleep." Clarke nodded and started to drift off. When she was on the cusp of sleep, she was almost sure she felt soft lips brush her forehead. Well...maybe it was just a dream.


	2. Chapter 2

**As you all seem to want this to be a full length story, I decided I can definitely do that! I'm going to try to keep the characters as un-ooc as I can, but since it's a Bellarke fic, they're definitely going to be at least a little ooc. Enjoy chapter 2 :)**

Bellamy awoke in the middle of the night with a start, immediately knowing something was wrong. As he blinked in the darkness and tried to remember where he was and what was happening, he became aware of breathing next to him. He softly turned his head and blinked in surprise. Clarke was lying next to him, her back to him, and he suddenly remembered that he'd invited her to his tent last night in order to keep her warm.

He could see her shoulders trembling minutely and wondered how long ago she'd rolled out of his arms and away from his body heat. He couldn't keep the soft smile off of his face. Even in sleep, she was stubborn. Rolling towards her, he cautiously draped and arm over her sleeping figure and tried to pull her closer. She murmured something unintelligible and scooted further away from him. Bellamy frowned

"Clarke, you're going to freeze." He whispered, holding her shoulder gently. She let out another agitated mutter and aggressively flipped over so he could see her face. Her forehead was creased, her brows drawn inward, and her lips pulled down into a deep frown. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Can't give me a peaceful day or a peaceful night apparently." He snapped, rolling his eyes before forcefully gathering her into his arms and closing his eyes. She struggled for a few seconds before falling still, her breaths evening out, and becoming limp in his arms. "Finally." He muttered, finally starting to drift into a deep sleep. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he thought he heard Clarke murmur his name into his neck, but decided against it and blamed it on his oncoming dreams.

When Clarke awoke the next morning, she was pleasantly warm. She sighed in content, not opening her eyes, and snuggled closer to her warm blankets, pushing her head further into her pillow. She couldn't remember her bed being so comfortable.

"I know you're awake." A deep voice reverberated through her skull, making her gasp, eyes shooting open. Bellamy's brown eyes were staring down at her, arms still wrapped tightly around her warm frame.

"Oh my god." She exclaimed, struggling out of his arms. He let her go with no conflicts, smirking up at her from his spot on the bed as she hastily pulled her boots back onto her feet. "This didn't happen, Bellamy Blake." She pointed a finger at him, her eyes narrowed in anger though a red flush had risen on her cheeks. Bellamy only chuckled and closed his eyes, a soft smirk planted on his face.

"Whatever you say, Princess." He stated lazily. Clarke let out a 'humph' noise and stomped out of his tent, not meeting anyone's eyes as a few of the 100 watched her storm away, arms crossed tightly over her chest. When she entered the drop ship, Finn was waiting for her, head ducked towards the floor. At her approaching footsteps, he looked up, eyes wide.

"I looked for you in your tent, but you weren't there. Where have you been?" He asked in concern. "Wait...isn't that Bellamy's jacket? Did you stay the night in Bellamy's tent!? Clarke, what were you thinking? You know what kind of a guy he is! Did he do anything to you?! I swear to god, if he touched you I'm going to cut his dick off!" Finn practically shouted, hands clenched into fists at his side.

"Finn stop. He didn't do anything. It was just so that neither of us froze overnight." Clarke muttered in response, rolling her eyes at Finn's over protective response. She didn't understand why he felt the need to 'protect' her from things that weren't even threatening her, such as Bellamy.

"Whatever." Finn responded, looking away from her bright blue eyes. "Anyway, I'm here because Monty cut his hand on the wall and he needs you to look at it." He mumbled, shouldering past her and heading for the exit of the drop ship. "Don't forget what kind of a person Bellamy really is, Clarke. I mean it." He called over his shoulder before he exited. Clarke clenched her teeth, irrationally angry at Finn's accusation. Did he really think so lowly of her? Did he really think so lowly of Bellamy? The answer was obvious. She knew that Finn didn't like Bellamy. Everyone knew that Finn Collins and Bellamy Blake hated each other. But she couldn't believe Finn would accuse her of doing something like sleeping with Bellamy. Scoffing, she spun on her heel and stalked towards the entrance of the drop ship. She hesitated at the tarp covering the door and looked down at herself, fingering Bellamy's jacket delicately. People would think things if she went out there while wearing it. But it was warm, and Clarke was scared she might freeze if she took it off. Finally deciding to be rational about it, she zipped the jacket up to her chin and made her way to Monty's tent.

Him and Jasper were sitting on Monty's furs bent over some sort of plant. Monty had a rag tied around the palm of his hand and at Clarke's entrance, looked up and held it out for her.

"I don't think it's too bad, but I'm scared it might get infected, or freeze in this weather." He explained. Clarke nodded and untied the rag, eyeing the cut in a scrutinizing manner.

"I think you'll be okay, but if your hand swells or the cut starts to ooze pus, come get me." She finally decided, wrapping the rag around it more professionally and giving each of them a smile.

"Hey Clarke, can I ask you something?" Jasper wondered as she was about to leave. Turning to look over her shoulder, she nodded. "Isn't that Bellamy's jacket." The medic immediately stiffened, eyes narrowing. "It isn't a bad thing or anything, I was just wondering!" He held his hands up in surrender at her angry expression. Clarke sighed and turned away, leaving the tent without answering. Not like she needed to anyway. Everyone already knew it was Bellamy's jacket.

"Does this make you mine?" A deep voice wondered from behind her. Clarke spun to see Bellamy standing over her shoulder, a cocky smirk etched across his face. "Everyone thinks that what it means." He leaned closer, warm breath billowing into her face. Clarke took a step back, narrowing her eyes.

"Get away from me Bellamy." She snapped, hurriedly unzipping the jacket and going to take it off. The smirk slid off of Bellamy's face, his expression contorting into one Clarke couldn't read.

"Stop, you need that. You're not prepared for this cold." he snatched her hand, stopping her from removing the jacket. Clarke froze, swallowing harshly and staring at his hand where it held her. "Like I said, can't have you getting sick." He cleared his throat and dropped his hand, turning away. "Anyway, I'm going to go find Octavia. Stay safe." Clarke watched him retreat and held her hand to her chest, wondering why she'd felt an odd spark where Bellamy had grabbed her. Shaking her head, she spun and hurried back towards the drop ship. She had better things to worry about than Bellamy's strange behavior. Much better things. At least, that's what she tried to tell herself.


	3. Chapter 3

**I finally had some downtime to write chapter three! Read, Enjoy, Review! I absolutely adore logging on and seeing all of the amazing reviews you guys are leaving me! It seriously makes my day!**

"Clarke, there's another one." Octavia stuck her head into the drop ship, covering her mouth as Monroe coughed right in her face.

"Sorry Octavia." The younger girl moaned as she shuffled past Octavia, curling onto the pallet that she'd claimed as hers.

"No big deal." Octavia replied, sniffling and rubbing her red nose on her sleeve. "Jasper's coming in." She finished reporting to Clarke as the boy shuffled into the tent. Clarke frowned and turned away, violently hacking into her elbow for what felt like an eternity but was really only mere seconds. Her throat burned in agony and she had to close her eyes against the onslaught of dizziness.

"Thanks O. Now get out of here before you get sick." Clarke waved her away, not looking at the girl as she hurried over to where Jasper had practically collapsed.

"Hi Clarke." He sniffled, looking up at her with bloodshot eyes and snot dripping from his nose. Clarke was reminded of a young child looking up at their mom.

"Hey buddy." She smiled softly despite the pounding in her head. "There's not much I can do for you at this point. Just rest and drink lots of water. I'll make sure there's always a cup by your pallet, but you need to drink it or you aren't going to get better." She informed him. Jasper nodded and laid back where he was, dragging a rough blanket over his shoulders as he shivered, partly from the biting air and partly from the sickness the camp was all suffering from. All of them including Bellamy. He was improving, though not much, and Clarke had mainly moved him to the second level of the drop ship to clear room on the first floor for those emergency cases. She felt kind of lost without him standing behind her, ready to catch her if she fell or help her if she failed. The feeling of loneliness bit at her chest and made her cough weakly, turning away from Jasper so she didn't spatter mucus all over him.

"Thanks." Jasper murmured softly as she went to fill up a cup of water from the large bucket at the back of the drop ship. All she could hear were moans of the sick kids around her and the occasional loud coughs that seemed to deafen her in the crowded space. She'd organized them so the most sick were on the first floor, easily reached by her, and those who were only exhibiting minor symptoms were on the third level, followed by worsened symptoms on the second. Much like they'd been arranged when the Grounder's consumption had ravaged the camp not that long ago.

"Clarke, you need to rest." Finn's voice, hoarse and rough, came from his pallet near hers. "You're just as sick as the rest of us." His voice seemed to fade for a few seconds and then Clarke became aware that she was falling through the air, heading very fast towards the ground. She screwed her eyes shut and braced herself as best as she could for the cold impact with the hard floor of the drop ship, but it never came. Her eyes opened to see Bellamy standing over her, the faded redness of sickness passed dusting his cheeks. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, holding her weight, and he faintly realized that she was very thin. Too thin. He frowned at the sweat on her forehead and her drawn cheeks.

"Finn's right. I'll take care of them while you rest." He stared down at her, a glint in his eyes that Clarke couldn't comprehend. She weakly tried to struggle out of his arms, murmuring protests that had no velocity.

"You're still sick." She muttered, head resting heavily on Bellamy's chest. He suddenly seemed to realize her close proximity and cleared his throat, lying her on the empty pallet next to Finn.

"I feel better. A lot better than you do." He assured her, cutting off whatever she was going to say next. "What did I tell you about getting sick, Clarke? Let me help you." He commanded, turning his back to her and dipping a rag in the bucket of water. She sighed at the coolness that enveloped her as he drew the rag across her hot forehead and screwed her lips up into a pout.

"Fine." She muttered, casting her eyes downward. Bellamy stared down at her, almost smiling before shaking himself out of his stupor and standing up. She wasn't going to get better if he didn't help her. Shaking his head once more, he turned to make rounds around the ship, checking that every cup had water in it. The whole time, his thoughts were entertained with the sight of Clarke's pouty lips and how much he wished he could kiss them.

_WAIT WHAT?!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay for another chapter! From this chapter on, things are really going to pick up! :) Enjoy and please continue to review! Thank you all sooooo much! This is probably the most reviews I've gotten in such a short time! :D**

Bellamy didn't know how Clarke had managed to deal with all of this while she was feeling so terrible. He was feeling 100% healthy and he was beyond worn out, running around getting water for everyone and cooling all of them down with wet rags. All of those who'd been on the third and second floors of the ship had vacated, feeling much better than they had several days ago, much to his relief, and he was relieved to find that Jasper, Monroe, and Miller had all broken their fevers the night before he sent them out of the drop ship with firm instructions to keep themselves hydrated and warm. Bellamy was beyond relieved to see that everyone who had been affected by the sickness was improving greatly. All of them except for Clarke.

She'd been moved to the hammock two days ago and hadn't moved since, only experiencing brief lapses of wakefulness in which Bellamy sat next to her and tried to talk her out of her state of delirious panic before she slipped back to a comatose-like unconsciousness. Fear began to rear its ugly head and concern for her wellbeing had come to the forefront of his mind.

"She's been like this for a week. Don't you think we should be doing something?" Finn had been hovering around Clarke for a few days, but this was the first time he'd actually said something.

"Sure Finn, what would you suggest?" Bellamy snapped, glaring up at him while he leaned almost protectively over Clarke. It wasn't that he didn't trust Finn with her. He had no reason to protect her from the other boy. In fact, just weeks ago, Finn had been protecting her from Bellamy. He just didn't want to give her care into Finn's hands. He'd rather know it was being done to his standards than be wondering if Finn was taking sufficient care of her.

"I don't know." Finn muttered, turning away from the other man angrily. He couldn't believe the way Bellamy was leaned over Clarke, the protective flare to his eyes, and the way he was holding her hand so gently. It was like he was doing it just to piss Finn off.

"Well when you figure it out, let me know." Bellamy sneered, gritting his teeth against hurling insults at Finn as the other boy scoffed and stormed out of the drop ship.

"You guys fight too much." A voice murmured from under him. Bellamy looked down quickly, gasping as he met Clarke's amazing blue eyes. "It's probably not healthy." She continued, letting her eyes slide shut.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Bellamy responded, grimacing down at her. "He infuriates me, though." Clarke snorted softly and squeezed his hand lightly. Bellamy jumped, forgetting he'd even been holding her hand.

"I'm pretty tired, Bell." She murmured, already drifting back into a dreamless sleep. Bellamy smiled and gently rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.

"That's fine, Princess. Go to sleep. I'll still be here when you wake up." He whispered, still absently rubbing his thumb over her soft hand. She smiled as her breathing deepened and evened out.

"Who ever knew Bellamy Blake had a heart?" The man looked up to see Raven standing on the other side of Clarke giving him a sultry smile.

"What did you need?" He asked, standing up and stretching his arms over his head and walking around Clarke towards her. Raven ducked her head as he neared before taking a deep breath and looking up at him.

"Look, Bellamy, that other night, in your tent-" Before she finished, he had interrupted her.

"Is not going to turn into a normal occurrence." He finished her sentence for her. "I'm not saying it was a mistake, but I'm not going to sleep with you again." He turned his back to her as Clarke murmured in her sleep and tossed her head to the side. He frowned. She'd been sleeping quite restlessly while sick. He wasn't surprised she was still exhausted.

Raven's arms went around his body, nails tracing soft patterns on his stomach through his shirt as her chin rested on his shoulder. Her soft touch sent minute shivers through his body and the fires of lust roared through him as he closed his eyes and turned his face towards the sky.

"Not a normal occurrence. But one more time can't hurt." She murmured. "That was one of the best nights of my life." He swallowed harshly and turned around in the cage of her arms, looking down at her with an animalistic smile.

"One more time can't hurt." He repeated. Raven's smile widened and she sauntered out of the drop ship with Bellamy following her. Neither of them glanced back at Clarke. Neither of them saw her watching them go with narrowed blue eyes that, for reasons she didn't quite know, shined with hurt.

**Sorry this was kind of short, but I'm going to upload the next chapter pretty soon tonight as well! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hopefully this chapter will be longer than the last few. Enjoy! :)**

Bellamy was almost asleep, Raven's slim body curled into his arms, sharing body heat under his furs after their hot-and-heavy session. The sun had just barely set and Bellamy was the on the edge of a dream when a commotion from the center of camp had awoken him. He bit his lip, deciding on whether to get up and see what was going on or just letting them work it out on their own, when a loud voice rose above the rest.

"Where's my brother?!" Octavia screamed, voice cracking and trembling. Shit. Bellamy practically shoved Raven out of his arms in his haste to dress himself. She groaned in agitation, prying her eyes open as Bellamy hurriedly got dressed and exited his tent. "What the HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Octavia screamed as soon as she saw him, shoving him as hard as she could. Tears were trailing down her cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Calm down, O." He put his hands out in surrender, taking a step back from his raging sister.

"DON'T YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! CLARKE IS IN THERE SEIZING BECAUSE OF YOU! BECAUSE SHE THREW UP AND NOBODY WAS THERE TO ROLL HER ON HER SIDE!" She screamed, making Bellamy flinch away from her at the sheer volume of her voice. Her words suddenly registered in his brain and his eyes widened, mouth gaping open.

"I-I..." He stammered, unsure of what he was supposed to say to that. Before he could say anything, however, Finn exited the drop ship and hurried up to the two of them.

"Finn, how is she?" Octavia immediately abandoned her brother and turned to the other boy, worry shining in her eyes.

"She'll be okay. I made sure she expelled everything and asked her if she knew what had happened. She said that her inability to sit up or roll over when she threw up caused her to start suffocating, which in turn caused brain hypoxia, or lack of oxygen. She's okay now, just exhausted, but we've got to watch her from now on." The last part of his sentence was directed to Bellamy. "What the hell were you thinking, leaving her alone?" He demanded, eyes narrowed and hands clenched into fists at his sides. Bellamy knew the boy would never do anything to him. Everyone knew that Finn Collins was a pacifist. "She could have died!"

Before Bellamy could answer his tent flap opened and Raven exited his tent, pulling her jacket onto her arms. Finn stiffened, eyes darting between Raven and Bellamy before something seemed to connect. His eyes dropped to the ground and Bellamy saw him blink rapidly.

"Finn-" Raven started, taking a step towards him. Octavia blocked her path, stepping between the two of them with a glare of stone.

"Fine. I'll keep watch over Clarke and you two can continue your business." He muttered, spinning on his heel and hurrying into the drop ship. Octavia continued to glare at Raven until the other girl turned and made her way back into her own tent, shoulders drooping. Bellamy started to shoulder past Octavia, intending to go check on Clarke for himself, when his sister caught his wrist. Her fingers dug painfully into his arm and he winced and hissed in pain.

"You can keep your distance from her." She snapped darkly, not letting go of his arm even as he tried to shake her off.

"Let go of me, O. I need to make sure she's okay. She's my co-leader, I can't have her becoming incapacitated on me." He snapped, eyes narrowed angrily at his sister. He could remember a time not so long ago when the 'big-brother' look would have her letting go and begging for his forgiveness in a split second. But she only drew herself up to her full height and fixed her brother with a glare that could rival his own. The flickering fire cast shadows over her face, making her seem even more intimidating.

"I guess you should have thought about that before you left her to screw Finn's ex girlfriend." She snapped, letting go of his arm and starting towards the drop ship. She paused half way there and halfway turned, throwing her words over her shoulder. "I see your face around the drop ship, I'll make sure you can never have sex again, big brother." She threatened before ducking behind the tarp and disappearing into the ship. Bellamy stood in the center of camp taking deep breaths and reminding himself that murder was frowned upon before turning around to the curious eyes of onlookers.

"What are you doing?! Get back to your posts!" He snapped, ducking his head against prying eyes and storming back into his tent. Alone in his tent, he sagged back onto his makeshift mattress and dragged a hand down his face. Letting out a large sigh, he fell back onto his back and closed his eyes. He drifted into a fitful sleep just a few minutes later.

The next morning, Bellamy awoke just as the sun started to rise. The cold air bit at his exposed digits and he shivered slightly, pulling his jacket tighter around him and lacing his boots up over his feet. As he exited his tent, the first person he saw was Raven across the camp. His eyes hungrily took in her body as she bent over to pick up a piece of metal, which she'd dropped, before he shook his head and turned away. He would be the first person to admit that Raven was fantastic in the bedroom, but he would also be the first person to admit that he actually couldn't stand her personality or the way she treated Clarke.

"Bell, can I talk to you?" Bellamy turned as he heard his little sister's voice off to his right. He nodded silently and she frowned and gnawed on her lip, something she always did when she was nervous. "I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I kind of over reacted, I was just so scared for Clarke. But she's been asking about you, so you should probably go see her." Bellamy smiled softly and wrapped his arms around his little sister, petting her hair softly. She squeezed him back before the two siblings released and Bellamy brushed past her, entering the drop ship. He could hear Finn and Clarke talking softly, but all conversation ceased as he appeared.

"Finn, could you give us a minute?" Clarke sounded exhausted, but at least she was awake. Bellamy wished he'd been there when she'd awoken, and then reminded himself that it was his own fault that he wasn't. Finn smiled and leaned over, brushing a soft kiss onto her forehead before walking past Bellamy, violently bumping shoulders as he did so. Bellamy silently took the seat Finn had previously been occupying, working out what he was going to say to apologize to her. "How are you and Raven?" She asked before he could say anything. He huffed in irritation.

"Did Spacewalker tell you?" He asked, leaning his elbows onto his knees and cradling his face in his hands.

"No, I saw you leave." She responded. Bellamy winced at that. "I'm not mad." She stated, eyes sliding up to stare at the ceiling. "I understand that it was probably boring watching me sleep. I feel a lot better though, so I wanted to thank you for taking such good care of me." She smiled warmly, turning her head to look at him again.

"Why?!" He exclaimed. "I almost let you die!" He stood up abruptly, dragging his fingers through his hair in agitation. "We could have lost you, Clarke! Why aren't you angry?! Yell at me! Get mad! I could have lost you!" Clarke watched him silently while he paced around the drop ship tugging at his dark hair. She waited until she was sure he was done with his outburst before speaking again.

"I'm not dead, Bellamy, and I'm not going to die any time soon. And despite what you and Finn seem to think, I can take care of myself. I had it under control but Finn came in and panicked. I was rolling over. I was fine." She stated calmly. "And I'm not angry because Octavia got angry enough for the both of us. Don't worry. Next time, I won't let myself get so sick that you have to take care of me." She stated, sitting up and placing her feet firmly on the floor.

"You...you think that's why I left? Because I was bored of taking care of you?" He demanded incredulously with a dry laugh. "I left because I was so worried about you I knew if I stayed in here a second longer, I'd go crazy. I left because I didn't know if you were going to make it through the night and I couldn't handle that. I didn't leave because I was bored of taking care of you, and I didn't leave because I want to be with Raven." He didn't know why he felt he needed to tack that onto the end of his sentence. Clarke bit her lip and averted her eyes,, unable to look at Bellamy's heated expression. "Clarke, I-" the tarp was torn open and Octavia appeared, eyes darting between the two of them.

"We found an injured Grounder child."


	6. AN READ READ READ READ!

**A reviewer pointed out a discrepancy in the last chapter that I forgot to elaborate on. Finn tells Octavia and Bellamy that he's the one who made sure Clarke gets rolled over and the idea was that she did tell him what had happened after she was finished suffocating, but later on in the chapter Clarke tells Bellamy that she had it under control. I definitely should have looked at this closer before I posted the chapter, but I'll explain it now.**

**What was supposed to have happened was that Clarke, while alone in the drop ship, woke up and needed to throw up, but was too weak to move so she did it while lying on her back and started to suffocate as the vomit ran down her throat and started to clog her wind pipes and all of that fun stuff, and in the process of trying to flip herself over, passed out from lack of oxygen and started to seize due to brain hypoxia, which is a lack of oxygen to the brain. Finn comes in at this moment and sees what's going on, and in a panic yells for Octavia. Together, the two of them get her flipped onto her side and while Octavia goes to find her brother, Finn makes sure that Clarke gets everything out of her lungs and stomach, and then while he's cleaning her she wakes up and he freaks out and asks her what happened and she tells him. And then later on, when Bellamy is beating himself up over leaving her alone, she tells him that she had it under control because she wants Bellamy to think that it wasn't that bad, even though she probably would have died if Finn hadn't happened upon her. So yeah, basically she just tries to down-play it in order to kind of comfort Bellamy.**

**And in this story, Raven and Clarke aren't necessarily friends. The story is kind of set in the early parts of season 1, before any contact with the Ark happens and diverges from the storyline of the show. It's not that they don't like each other, it's just that they're kind of neutral with each other, and Raven hasn't seen Clarke wearing Bellamy's jacket or anything so she doesn't think that anything is happening between Clarke and Bellamy. She thinks it's just harmless sex. Really all the blame for that goes to Bellamy.**

**Sorry for the confusion, but thanks for pointing that out so I can get it squared away. I usually read and edit my chapters before I post them, but I guess I just missed that discrepancy! I'll probably get a new chapter up tomorrow sometime! Glad you all like it! :)**

**-SPNWinchesters **


	7. Chapter 6

**Yay for a new chapter! :D**

_"We found an injured grounder child."_

Clarke and Bellamy glanced at each other as Octavia spun out of the drop ship. Clarke sprung to her feet, stumbling slightly as a bout of dizziness washed over her. Bellamy's hand came to her elbow, holding her steady as she breathed through the blood coursing in her head. After she'd finally got her bearings back, she made her way towards the drop ship, pretending not to notice the way Bellamy shadowed her and the way one hand stayed firmly on her elbow and another pressed against her back, gently propelling her forward.

The child was lying on the ground, hands and feet bound while Miller and a few of Bellamy's other guys stood around him. As Bellamy and Clarke neared, Miller and Jacob stepped in front of them, blocking Clarke's view of the boy.

"Sorry Bellamy, but I don't think Clarke should go near the child. He's dangerous. He scratched Harper a few times while we were trying to wrestle him down, even injured." Miller stated, not looking down at Clarke. The girl rolled her eyes and shoved past Miller and Jacob, dropping to her knees next to the boy. The boy let out a muffled cry, wild eyes darting around at all of the people around him.

"Hey hey, it's okay, I'm not going to let them hurt you anymore. I'm going to unbind your feet, but I need you to behave for me okay? I'm going to clean you up and heal you." She spoke softly, hands out in a calming gesture as she reached for the gag that the hunting party had tied around the kid's mouth. She reached around him, untying the gag and pulling it away from his mouth. "Can you tell me your name?" The child stared at her with wide eyes, breathing heavily, before craning his neck forward and opening his jaws as wide as he could. His teeth clamped down onto Clarke' s nearest arm.

"SHIT!" She cursed, trying to yank her arm away as blood started to drip onto the ground.

"HEY!" Bellamy shouted, lunging forward and knocking the side of the kid's head with his fist. The child released, falling to the ground with a thump and letting out a soft whimper. "Are you okay?" He dropped to his knees next to Clarke, taking her arm in his hands and examining it thoroughly. Bruises were forming around the bite marks already, but they'd barely broken skin and had already stopped bleeding. Bellamy roughly threw her arm down and drew himself up to his full height, towering over the boy, a look of anger shadowed over his face. The grounder child whimpered, trying to wiggle himself away.

"Bellamy stop." Clarke put herself between the child and Bellamy. "He's just scared, and you're not making it better." She put a hand on Bellamy's chest to restrain him, searching his eyes. "Let me handle this." The rebel leader looked away, lips turned down into a frown before letting out a huff of irritation and backing away from her. She smiled in silent victory and turned around, crouching down by the child and undoing the tight binds around his ankles. "If you'll come with me, I can get you all cleaned up." The boy only stared at her in silence as she helped him to his feet and guided him to the drop ship.

In the drop ship, Clarke undid the bindings around his wrists, prepared to intercept the boy if he tried to run or fight back. The child only sat on her make shift operation table staring down at the ground and swinging his feet.

"What's your name?" She asked as she dipped a cloth into a bucket of water and started to gently scrub at the blood encrusted on the child's face. He didn't answer. "How old are you?" She tried again, squeezing the bloody water out and dipping the rag into the water again. "I'm really sorry about them. They're just a bunch of buffoons." The child let out a huff of a laugh at that, blue eyes glancing up to look at her. She smiled comfortingly at him. "It's okay. You can talk to me." She assured him, leaning close as if she were going to tell him a secret. "I won't tell them anything, promise." The child let out a soft giggle.

"My name is Adrian. I'm twelve years old." He explained softly, clasping his hands together.

"Nice to meet you, Adrian. I'm Clarke." She smiled as she rung the cloth out once more. "How did you get hurt, Adrian?" She asked curiously, frowning at the long cut running down the side of Adrian's face, from his temple all the way down to the bottom of his jaw.

"I was on my first hunt. It's a coming of age. The wild boar I was hunting attacked me. It got me in the stomach, so I was lying there, and while I was down, those uh...what did you call them...buffoons...just came out of the trees aiming these big black things at me and yelling at me. I panicked when they started to tie me up and started scratching and biting." The child looked almost proud at this, eyes sparkling out at her. Clarke couldn't help but chuckle at his child-like joy.

"Yeah. They're really kind of animalistic aren't they?" Clarke thought this was kind of ironic, seeing as they were supposed to be the advanced society and the grounders were supposed to be the 'animalistic' ones.

"No." Adrian shook his head, chewing on his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Not animalistic. Survivalists." He corrected her. "My people are the same way, just different." Clarke nodded in agreement.

"I see your point." She agreed, smiling at Adrian. He smiled back before the two of them fell silent, Clarke diligently working to scrub the dirt and blood from Adrian. The tarp was pulled aside just as Clarke was examining the dark bruising on Adrian's stomach, and she didn't need to look up to recognize the heavy footfalls as Bellamy's.

"Has he spoken yet?" Bellamy snapped. Clarke could practically hear the snarl on his face as he glared down at Adrian. The child averted his eyes, meeting Clarke's blue eyes with a plead. She knew what Bellamy would do if she told him that Adrian had spoken to her. He'd tie the child up and demand information and answers.

"No." Clarke shook her head as she stood up, patting Adrian's shoulder softly. "Doesn't look too bad. I don't think you'll have any internal bleeding." The child ducked his head, shoulders hunched, but he sent Clarke a small smile of gratitude.

"What are we going to do with him?" Bellamy demanded, crossing his arms as Clarke turned to look at him. She stared up at him silently, searching for a shred of the same Bellamy who'd stayed up with her all night, wiping the traces of fever from her forehead and making sure she was well hydrated. He stared back at her with cold eyes.

"We're going to let him go, and we're not going to go after him." She responded, turning her back to Bellamy and dropping the bloody rag into the bucket and reminding herself to dump the red water out when she next left the drop ship.

"He could give us answers, information. We just need to make him talk." Clarke winced and spun on Bellamy, teeth bared and hands clenched into fists at her side.

"And how well did that go last time, Bellamy?" She hissed. "We are not going to do ANYTHING to this child!" She jabbed a finger at him, poking him in the chest as hard as he could.

"So what, we're just going to pass up this opportunity?! He was on OUR land!" Bellamy reminded her, crossing his arms tighter so he wouldn't lash out at the infuriating blonde in front of him.

"That's EXACTLY what we're going to do! How many times have we crossed into their territory, Bellamy? Adrian hasn't done anything!" The child gasped, Clarke's eyes widened, and Bellamy's narrowed.

"Adrian?" He demanded, his voice so low Clarke could barely hear him. "You lied to me. He did speak." Clarke moved to place herself between Bellamy and Adrian, drawing herself up to her full height and widening her stance.

"Because I knew what you were going to do if I told you he'd spoken. I did it to protect him." Clarke knew as soon as she said it that it was the wrong thing to say.

"TO PROTECT HIM? A GROUNDER?" Bellamy roared, arm snapping out and clutching her shoulder so tight she thought it would probably bruise. It only fueled her anger even more.

"TO PROTECT A CHILD, BELLAMY! HE'S ONLY TWELVE! HE DOESN'T DESERVE WHATEVER YOU'RE GOING TO DO TO HIM!" Clarke knew that Bellamy was unreasonable at times, but she also knew that he would never to anything to intentionally harm her. The two of them stood, glaring at each other and both breathing heavily until Bellamy retracted his arm and let out a dry, humorless laugh.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're betraying me right about now." That hit Clarke like an arrow to the chest. She inhaled sharply and dropped her eyes to the floor, trying to keep her emotions in check. Bellamy was silent for a couple of seconds before he spoke again, his voice losing some of its previous vigor. "I shouldn't have said that." He stated, snaking his arm out to grip Clarke's wrist. She stepped out of his reach.

"You're right. You shouldn't have." She was glad she managed to keep her voice from trembling. "I'm going to take Adrian back to the border line. And you're not going to come with me." She took Adrian's hand, giving the child an encouraging smile, and brushed past Bellamy.

"Clarke, wait." Bellamy called after her, turning to pursue her. She'd already exited the drop ship. He hurried out of the ship to see her already exiting camp with the grounder child and Jasper in tow. He stood at the entrance to the ship, frowning after her, until he felt a presence beside him. "I screwed up, Octavia." He murmured, rubbing a hand down his face. Octavia snorted beside him.

"I'll say."


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, here's chapter eight! Enjoy! :)**

Clarke was really glad the snow had started to melt and wasn't nearly as tall as it had been just a few days earlier. She'd taken Bellamy's coat with her and was glad she did, because it was frigid. Even in the glowing sun shine, the air bit at her face and her fingers. Her, Jasper, and Adrian walked in silence towards the river, with the child leading them across the rough terrain. She was silently fuming at Bellamy's mood swings, which were giving her whiplash, and wondered what his problem was. One second he's taking care of her and the next he's accusing her of betraying him. What's up with that?!

"Everyone heard you and Bellamy fighting." Jasper broke the tense silence between him and the blonde doctor. She looked up at him, lips turned into a deep frown.

"I don't doubt it. We were the opposite of quiet." She replied softly, stumbling as her foot caught something under the snow, a rock or a root she assumed. Jasper reached out to steady her with a smile, but didn't respond to her.

The river came into view, thick ice covering the rushing water underneath. Clarke stared at it in awe as Jasper and Adrian returned to the shore. Clarke shook herself out of her awe and hurried after them to the bank.

"The only way to get across is to go across the ice." Adrian looked up at her with sparkling blue eyes.

"Adrian!" A voice called. Clarke looked up to see a group of Grounder warriors standing on the other side. "Come now! Get away from them! What did they do to you?!" At the accusation from the leader of the group, Jasper and Clarke were suddenly facing four bows with arrows loaded. The two teenagers put their hands up into the air and took a few nano-steps backwards.

"Nothing! They helped me!" Adrian yelled, hurrying to take a few steps onto the ice over the river.

"Adrian no!" The warrior shouted, just as a loud cracking sound erupted through the air. Adrian froze, turned and stared at Clarke with wide eyes, and dropped through the chasm that opened in the ice.

Clarke gasped, hands over her mouth, as the warriors fanned out down the river searching for the child under the ice. Clarke and Jasper ran down the bank, eyes fruitlessly searching in silence next to the Grounders. There was nothing.

"Leave this place!" The warriors roared, making Jasper and Clarke jump back and start to retreat to the edge of the trees. As they turned their backs, there was a sudden 'swick' noise in the air. Clarke dodged to the side, the arrow just barely skimming her arm. Jasper grabbed her hand and yanked her through the forest. The two of them ran until they were well away from the river before they finally stopped to catch their breath.

"Oh my god." Clarke sunk to her knees in the snow at the realization of what had just happened. "Oh my god." She breathed, hands dangling limply by her sides in the snow as she stared down at the white powder.

"It's not your fault. We couldn't have known this was going to happen." Jasper spoke softly, placing his hand on her head in a brief gesture of comfort. "But if you stay down in the snow like that, you're going to freeze." Clarke looked up at him as he retracted his hand and nodded, climbing to her feet.

The two of them were silent as they walked back to camp, and entered with a somber air about them. Clarke's arm stung and she wondered if Bellamy was going to be mad that the arrow had not only ripped his jacket but that she was also bleeding on it.

"I'm glad you guys are back safe." Octavia enveloped both of them in a hug. Jasper hugged back, but Clarke's arms stayed by her sides, unresponsive. "Clarke, are you okay?" she asked, holding the girl at arm's length. The blonde girl took a deep breath and looked up, meeting Octavia's eyes that looked strikingly like her brother's.

"Yeah Octavia, I'm fine." She straightened and smiled, patting the girl's shoulder before moving past her towards the drop ship. She could feel several eyes on her as she entered the drop ship, the tarp falling behind her and cutting off everyone's view of her drooping shoulders.

Shucking Bellamy's jacket off, she dropped it on the floor and hissed as she twisted her elbow to see the damage. The arrow had taken a nice chunk out of the top part of her arm and blood was dripping down to the floor. She didn't think it would need stitches, but bandaging her arm with her left hand was going to be difficult. She gnawed her lip indecisively before sighing and going to find someone.

The first person she saw when she exited the drop ship was Bellamy. She immediately redirected her course away from him, running into Raven on the way.

"Hey, you're bleeding!" Raven exclaimed, gaining the attention of a few nearby kids. Clarke shushed her softly and grabbed her arm, leading her into the drop ship.

"Can you bandage this for me?" She asked when they were in the drop ship. Raven nodded and moved away to find the bandages, silently working to clean the chunk taken out of Clarke's arm.

"Did the Grounders do this?" She asked after a few seconds. Clarke sighed and nodded, frowning deeply.

"The child fell through the ice at the river." She admitted softly. Raven stilled, a gasp escaping from her mouth as she looked up at Clarke. "It wasn't anyone's fault, but I wish we could have done something." Clarke shook her head with a small scoff as Raven finished cleaning the wound and placed a strip of cloth over the wound, making it stick with tree sap at the edges of the bandage. The two girls sat in silence for a while before Raven cleared her throat and stood up, nodding quietly at Clarke and leaving. Clarke continued to sit in the drop ship, staring down at the floor lost in thought, when steps made her look up.

"How'd it go?" It was the one person she didn't want to deal with. She looked away from him, shrugging and humming in response. Bellamy nodded, crossing his arms and looking away from her as well. "Uh, I just...I need to talk to you." He stated, looking back at her. Clarke looked up with a confused expression, urging him to go on with her eyes. "I need you to be my co-leader, Clarke." He stated, staring down at her.

"I thought I already was?" Clarke asked, now beyond confused. Bellamy shook his head, running his hand through his hair. Clarke noted that he did that a lot when he was frustrated.

"No, I mean I need you to just be my co-leader." Oh. Now she understood. "We can't be friends, or anything else." He stated, scratching his nose with a sniffle.

"Can I have an explanation, at least?" She asked, ducking her head and staring up at him through her eyelashes. Bellamy licked his lips and nodded, dropping his eyes to the metal floor of the ship.

"I just can't deal with it right now. I need to think through some things, you need to think through some things, and we need to focus on keeping our people alive. Maybe...maybe when the winter is over we can talk about it more." She nodded. That was logical. Bellamy turned to leave without looking at her, leaving her alone in the ship.

"Wait...did he just break up with me? Without even being together?"


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, I'm really sorry I haven't been able to update lately. School restarted and I'm stressing out about my finals next week! But anyway, here's chapter 8! Maajjooorr Clarke development! :)**

The days became colder and shorter, giving the children less daylight to gather food and go hunting. Clarke's days were filled with curing frost bite, which she did by having Jasper boil some water over the fire and then dipping the kid's hands in it when it cooled off a little, as well as taking Monty into the stark white forest with her to try to find some medicinal herbs before they all died from the freeze. It was well into winter by now and already three of the one hundred had succumbed to hypothermia, including the first boy Bellamy had found at the beginning of the season. Octavia had fallen victim to a strain of some sort of stomach virus and was staying in the drop ship until she felt better. Clarke didn't think it was anything to worry about, but Bellamy was always ducking into the ship to check on his little sister.

It was awkward between the two of them but they hid it well from the 100. Clarke wished that Bellamy would at least look at her, but the rebel leader was always ducking his eyes to the ground whenever she spoke to him, and never directly addressed her unless it was about his sister's condition.

_Hypocrite. _Clarke flinched at that little voice in her head, but it was true. She'd been avoiding Finn the same way Bellamy was avoiding her. Every time she saw Finn coming for her, she'd turn and occupy herself with something or someone else until he left.

"Clarke." A voice ripped her from her thoughts. A voice she hadn't heard speak her name in at least a week, if not more. She turned, hands falling away from where she'd been sorting through the few meager plants her and Monty had found. Bellamy was standing by Octavia, brushing his hand through her hair, and not looking at the medic.

"How long have you been there?" she asked carelessly, turning back to her table and trying to remember everything Monty had told her about the plants they'd gathered.

"A few minutes." He replied just as carelessly, voice barely audible to Clarke's ears.

"You're sister is fine. She's already getting better." Clarke assured him, frowning as he hummed in response, but didn't seem to believe her. "Trust me, Bellamy." She tried not to sound like she was pleading with him.

"I do." He muttered, leaning down and brushing a kiss onto Octavia's forehead before sweeping out of the tent. Clarke bit down on her urge to call after him and stilled her hands, leaning heavily on her work table and dropping her head as if her neck could no longer bear the weight.

"My brother's a massive idiot, but he does really trust you and care about you." Octavia spoke, voice rough from sickness and sleep. Clarke snorted and shook her head, blonde hair swinging out in a wide arc as she did so.

"I just don't know what to do about him anymore." She admitted to Octavia, sighing and going back to her plants. "Whatever. It doesn't matter anyway, we've got bigger things to focus on. How are you feeling?" She asked, averting her attention and turning to the younger Blake sibling.

"Better, just pretty sleepy." Octavia replied with a small smile. "I think I'm going to get some sleep." Clarke nodded, reaching down and pressing her hand to Octavia's forehead and smiling in satisfaction.

"You're not hot. That's a good idea, get some sleep." Clarke stated, smiling softly down at the younger girl. Octavia drifted to sleep and Clarke turned, unsure of what to do now that Octavia was resting and she was finished sorting the plants. Before she could think of anything else to keep her busy, a flurry of activity suddenly started at the front of the drop ship and everyone hurried inside, covered in snow and shivering relentlessly.

"What's going on?!" Clarke shouted over the mayhem as people started climbing the ladders to the second and third level of the drop ship.

"Massive blizzard just moved in. It's too cold out there for anyone. There's no heat in here, but at least it's sheltered and the close proximity will warm it up pretty quickly." It was Finn who answered her, and she jumped, turning to see him standing over her left shoulder.

"Oh. That makes sense." She replied, turning to see Bellamy the last one in. He hit the lever and the door rose, shrouding the kids in the harsh artificial lights of the drop ship. Clarke could hear the wind howling outside and she shivered, not from the cold, but from the sheer terror of being snowed into their small camp.

"Are you cold?" Finn asked, draping an arm over her shoulders and pulling her close. Clarke stiffened, hands coming to fists at her sides.

"Don't touch me." she murmured, trying to tear away from his grasp. He let her go with a frown, crossing his arms over his chest. "You need to learn your boundaries Finn. I'm not yours so you can't just casually touch me whenever you feel like it." She put her hand out as he started to advance towards her, an apology on the tip of tongue. "Save it." His shoulders drooped and he averted his eyes, taking a step backwards.

"There a problem here?" There was suddenly a presence behind her. Clarke's eyes widened, but she didn't even have to turn around to know that it was Bellamy standing behind her. She could almost feel his chest pressed against her back, and his hands brushed her hips as he brought them up to cross over his chest. She couldn't think of a time she'd ever felt so safe and secure with someone.

"No." Finn muttered, sending Bellamy a glare before spinning on his heel and disappearing into the crowd of kids, who had sat down in small groups and were playing games they'd made up, or talking, or laying down to sleep.

"Spacewalker doesn't know when to quit, huh?" Bellamy asked, breath billowing across the back of Clarke's head. She didn't answer, didn't even move a muscle, afraid that if she did, they'd go back to keeping their distance and being awkward with each other. Clarke didn't want to admit it, but she wanted to be around Bellamy. She wanted to talk to him and be near him and know that he always had her back. "You okay, Princess?" Bellamy's voice took on a joking tinge, but when she refused to move, he took her shoulder and spun her around, concern sparkling in his deep brown eyes. "Clarke? Are you alright?" He asked, kneading her shoulder softly. She stared up at him, lips parted slightly, before slowly nodding.

"Uh...yeah, yeah I'm okay." She nodded, tearing her eyes away from his and clearing her throat. "Sorry, I was just...I just...sorry." Bellamy narrowed his eyes in confusion, but let her brush past him to check on Octavia.

Clarke crouched next to Octavia, trying to stop her hands from trembling. She didn't know what it was about Bellamy, about this particular Bellamy and not the one she'd first met, that did this to her. When they'd first landed on the ground, Bellamy and Clarke had been at odds for weeks. He thought she was a self-entitled bitch, like most of the people on Phoenix station, and she thought he was a hotheaded asshole who wanted nothing but total control over the 100. But he'd saved her life that first week, when she'd fallen through the Grounder's trap, and though he'd considered dropping her and killing her, he hadn't. Clarke had kept that in mind when dealing with him. When she found out what he'd done to get on the drop ship, how he'd shot the Chancellor, she hadn't known how to respond. Part of her thought it was heroic, the way he'd done that just to protect his sister, but another part of her was appalled at the behavior. And then he'd saved her life again, while Dax was shooting at her, and she'd realized that he wasn't really all that hotheaded. He thought he was a monster. And this Bellamy, the one that had asked her to stay in his tent so she didn't freeze, the one that was there for her, that gave her unconditional support and care when she needed it, was throwing her for a loop. She'd only ever seen Bellamy like that with his sister before.

She wanted to be with Bellamy. She'd realized that a while ago, but it still startled her every time she thought about it again. Just weeks ago, she'd rather him dead, but now she didn't know if she could live without him.

"Clarke!" Raven's voice carried from the top level of the drop ship. Clarke started to climb up the ladder, not liking the panicked tone with which she spoke. They met halfway, on the second level, and the first thing Clarke noticed was the blood on Raven's hands. "Murphy stabbed Finn."


	10. Chapter 9

**The day draws closer and closer to my first exam. I probably won't be able to update at all next week, because of all the stress, but I will definitely try! :)**

The fact that Finn and Clarke were at odds didn't lessen the crushing worry in Clarke's chest. Just because they were fighting didn't mean she wanted anything to happen to him. Certainly not anything like this.

Murphy was standing off to the side of Finn's figure on the ground where he'd collapsed and a slight smirk twisted on the attacker's face. Clarke's stomach rolled and she clamped down her nausea. What kind of sick, twisted people got joy from injuring others?

"Raven, get Murphy out of here. Bring him down, tell Bellamy what happened." Clarke's presence changed dramatically from local doctor to fearless leader in a matter of seconds. Raven locked Murphy's arms behind his back and shoved him down the hatch, following him while she muttered threats in his ear that Clarke was sure she'd follow through with were she given the chance. "Finn, are you awake?" Clarke dropped to her knees next to Finn, moving his hands where they clutched his chest. Murphy had stabbed him in the left bicep. He'd gone for the kill.

"Clarke..." Finn choked, hands grasping the sleeves of her jacket as he blinked rapidly, tears dripping down his cheeks. Clarke hurriedly blinked her own tears out of her eyes and smiled apologetically.

"This is going to hurt." She warned before taking a deep breath and pressing down on the gaping stab wound. Finn's yell reverberated through her skull and everyone in the drop ship fell silent. The only thing Clarke could hear was Finn's sobbing cries. "Shh shh, it's going to be okay. I promise." she whispered, closing her eyes and pretending she wasn't there, pretending she wasn't feeling Finn's life bleeding out underneath her fingers. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the blood stopped pulsing through her fingers and she could feel it coagulating under her fingers. "I need a needle and some wire." her voice trembled minutely and she cleared her throat, staring down into Finn's wide eyes as Monroe hurried to the lower level to get what Clarke needed.

"I'm sorry." Finn's shaking fingers reached up and brushed a tear off of Clarke's cheek. She didn't even know she'd been crying. "I never meant to...hurt you." She pressed a finger to his lips.

"Don't speak. You need to keep up your strength." Finn frowned, hand dropping to the ground as he breathed in shakily. Clarke sniffled and furiously wiped her cheeks before reaching down and taking Finn's hand. "It's all going to be okay." She squeezed his hand and he suddenly smiled.

"I know." He assured her, letting his eyes slide shut briefly. Clarke squeezed his hand again before softly lying it back on the ground. Monroe came hurrying up the ladder with the supplies in hand, dumping it next to Clarke.

"Okay Finn. Here we go." Clarke swallowed heavily and stared down at the wire and thread. Her hands were trembling as she held them and though she tried to make them stop, it didn't look like it was going to happen. "Okay." She repeated again, suddenly wondering why, although she'd done this several times, she couldn't seem to get a grip now.

"You got this." A warm presence was behind her, a firm chest pressed against her back, and large hands guided hers towards Finn's body. "You've done this a thousand times, and I'm right here behind you every step of the way." Bellamy's voice was husky and comforting as he spoke softly in her ear. Her hands stopped shaking and she took a deep breath, drawing her head up straight and nodding solemnly.

"Everything will be okay, Finn." He nodded, a small smile licking at the corners of his mouth, and then she plunged the needle into his chest. He stiffened and gasped, eyes flying open. He watched Clarke's eyes, and Bellamy's behind her, both trained on him, both narrowed in concentration. Finn wondered when Clarke had replaced him with Bellamy, and felt a hurt different from physical pain radiate through him. If Clarke didn't need him anymore, what was he supposed to protect?

Half an hour later, Clarke was done and Finn was being covered with a blanket brought from the bottom tier of the ship. Clarke settled in next to him as the crowd shuffled away and settled down for a night of restlessness. But at least they'd been right. It was almost unbearably warm in the drop ship with all of the bodies crammed in there. Bellamy had gone down to find his sister, and Finn and Clarke were the only ones awake at the time.

"Thank you." Finn spoke sincerely, reaching out to capture Clarke's hand. She hummed in response, hand curling around his warm one. He smiled at the hard grip. At least she still needed him for something, right?

"I thought you were going to die." Clarke admitted after a few moments of silence. "And I was scared. So scared that I was going to lose you." she looked down at him, hair shadowing her gorgeous blue eyes. Finn longed to brush it out of her face, but he was stuck on her words. "Finn, we can't be together. I just don't feel that way about you anymore; you broke my heart. But...you were my best friend at the beginning of all of this. I trusted you with everything, even my life. That's not just going to go away." Finn swallowed and resisted the urge to profess his love again. It was clear that he was going to get nowhere with that.

"Let's go back to it." He finally spoke, after taking a second to collect his thoughts. "Best friends. Entirely platonic. You can still trust me with everything, Clarke, and I'll still do everything in my power to protect you." _I'll still love you._

"Is it really that easy, though?" she whispered, voice breaking slightly. Finn squeezed her hand comfortingly.

"It is if we make it."

When Clarke fell asleep, her hand was still enveloped in Finn's. And she felt safe and she felt at peace.

But when she woke up in the morning to an empty drop ship, and shouts outside, her feeling of peace was gone. She wrenched her hand out of Finn's muttering a quick excuse before practically throwing herself down the two tiers to the ground level. The door was open and she could feel the frigid wind blasting her before she even made it past the tarp, but when she pushed it open, the cold was suddenly forgotten.

"Bellamy! What the hell are you doing?!" She shouted, shoving through the crowd of kids to where Bellamy was holding Murphy face first into the snow. As Clarke approached, trudging through the knee high snow as best as she could, he yanked the boy up by the hair revealing his bruised and blood, not to mention frozen, face.

"Punishing him! He tried to kill Finn!" Shouts of agreement rose up around Clarke as she finally reached Bellamy, trying to stop her shoulders from trembling in the cold and drawing herself up to her full height. Even still, she was a few inches shorter than Bellamy and had to crane her neck up to look at him.

"Where has this gotten us?" She exclaimed back, gesturing to Murphy's unrecognizable face. "We are not SAVAGES, Bellamy! We are human beings! All of us! Even him!" She jabbed a finger in Murphy's direction as Bellamy snorted and looked away from her.

"I'm doing this for you, princess! You're the one who had to stitch Finn and take care of him all night!" Bellamy lowered his voice so that only Clarke could hear him. "I'm not doing this for Finn. I'm doing this because you've had enough to deal with, with that thrown on top." Clarke gritted her teeth before reaching out and softly lying her hand down on Bellamy's tensed bicep.

"What I need is for you to drop Murphy and not make this any harder for me." She murmured in response, fingers tightening minutely on his arm. He felt it, no matter how small the gesture was. "I need you to have my back, Bellamy. I don't want to argue with you." Bellamy searched her eyes before glancing at Murphy and dropping him to the snowy ground.

"You're off the hook for now, but come find me later and I'll have something for you to do. You can thank Clarke for me not killing you." Bellamy snapped, turning his eyes back to Clarke. The two looked at each other for a little while longer before Bellamy reached up and patted the hand that was still on his bicep. "I'm right behind you every step of the way."


	11. Chapter 10

**Gosh, I am so sorry it's taken me this long to update! I've been in kind of a slump since my finals started, but now that they're done I finally have the motivation to write! Enjoy!**

The blizzard had all but wiped out their food supply, destroyed most of their tents, and muted the world in a thick white haze. Clarke's stomach growled and she tried not to think about their lack of food and the obvious lack of game tracks out in the forest. If they couldn't find anything to eat in the next few days, all of the kids were going to be screwed. The weight of the world rested on Clarke's shoulders, especially with Bellamy down and out with the worst cold Clarke had seen. Octavia was taking care of him while Clarke handled the rest of the camp.

"Clarke!" Jake, a boy who'd been imprisoned for petty theft on the Ark, approached the blonde girl as she turned away from what meager berries and nuts the last hunting party had returned. "Anna found something she thought you might be interested in. Follow me." Clarke glanced over her shoulder, nodding at Raven across the camp as she followed the boy out of camp.

"What exactly are you taking me to see?" Clarke asked curiously as the two of them waded through the snow. Jake barely turned his head, a cocky grin on his face. Clarke suddenly felt deeply unsettled.

"We found some food." He answered, snorting as though he knew some joke that Clarke didn't. Something stirred in the pit of her stomach and she swallowed harshly. Even though Jake had only been arrested for petty theft, Anna had murdered her mother in cold blood and tried to kill her father before a neighbor had heard the commotion and called the guards. Clarke knew that all of the kids on the ground were criminals, but that didn't mean she trusted all of them. In fact, she only trusted a few of them. Jake and Anna were not among that list.

"Check it out." Clarke was pulled from her thoughts at Anna's voice. Looking up from the white ground and immediately freezing at the sight in front of her. "I shot him while he was following us." In front of her was an injured grounder, covered in furs, but definitely human. An arrow protruded from his side and he was breathing shallowly.

"Absolutely not." Clarke shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. The arrogant smirk on Anna's face dropped and her eyes narrowed. Clarke felt a flutter of fear in her chest, but tried not to let it show on her face. "We are not EATING another human being." She snapped.

"Why not?!" Jake exclaimed in exasperation. "We're going to starve to death if we don't find something to eat! There's no animals anywhere, not in this weather, and any plant we can eat is going to freeze soon." He stated, taking a step closer to the leader of the camp.

"No. There's got to be another way. I'm not going to take another human being's life, and I'm certainly not going to eat them." Clarke shouldered past the two of them and crouched next to the grounder, lifting his furs so that she could see his face and breaking the arrow. The grounder stared up at her with bared teeth and angry green eyes. "Get out of here." She helped the grounder to his feet, watching him scurry through the trees before turning away and storming through the undergrowth.

"Clarke come on! What are we going to eat now?!" Jake called after her as the two hunters chased her through the forest. Clarke turned to answer, but suddenly the ground fell from under her. A gasp escaped her lips as she tried to grasp at the edge of the hole, to no avail. Something pierced her thigh, tearing through her jeans, and a scream tore from her throat and echoed through the air.

"Clarke!" Anna screamed, peering over the edge to the leader of the camp. Luckily, the grounder trap was pretty old, so most of the spikes had eroded and collapsed, but Clarke had managed to catch one of the spikes still standing. What felt like flames licked at her thigh and tears made salty tracks down her cheeks.

"Hold on! We're going to go get Bellamy! Just hang on a little bit, okay?!" Jake exclaimed before the two faces disappeared. Clarke threw her head back to the cold ground, sniffling slightly and closing her eyes.

"Dammit." She sighed, sitting up and squeezing the wound. Another scream wound from her chest and a sob erupted from her mouth followed by several curses and profanities. They'd better hurry up with help, or Clarke was toast.


	12. Chapter 11

**I'm so glad you guys aren't mad at me for taking so much time to update! I'm back on my normal schedule now though and try to have a chapter up once a day!**

The sun had set and the frigid temperature from the day transformed into an unbearable cold that Clarke felt in her bones. She'd been right in her instinct not to trust Anna and Jake. Though the two had promised to bring help back, it had been hours and they were nowhere to be heard. This was it. Clarke was going to die.

She felt strangely peaceful, head resting against the solid ground, stars reeling above her. It all felt so surreal, like she hadn't just spent however many months trying to survive on Earth. Like the Chancellor and the Counsel hadn't sent all of them down here to die.

"This is it, mom." Clarke grasped the bracelet on her wrist and stared up at the twinkling lights in the black sky, glad that it wasn't cloudy. "See you on the other side." Her eyes slid shut, her shoulders became lax, and she could feel herself fading away, pain and the cold fading as she drifted into nothingness.

"It's not your time to leave yet, Princess." Clarke was jolted awake, eyes snapped open, to meet Bellamy's dark brown eyes, barely visible in the pitch black night.

"Bellamy." She wasn't sure why tears started to brim her eyes, or why a blockage in her throat suddenly inhibited her breathing.

"Did you really think I wouldn't come get you?" He asked, voice nasally from his plugged nose. Before she could answer, he turned away to cough into the crook of his elbow.

"You're still sick." Clarke pointed out weakly, trying not to let her eyes slide shut again. Bellamy let out a barking laugh from above her.

"Even if I was dying, I'd still come find you. What would I do without my daily pain in the ass?" Clarke wiped the tears from her cheeks and tried not to smile. "Anyway, I'm not alone. Octavia and Finn came with me." Clarke's eyes widened.

"But Finn is still healing!" She exclaimed, trying to sit up and gasping at the tightness and pain in her back. She'd laid in one position in the cold for too long, and her body was trying it's best to keep her organs functioning. Meaning it had abandoned everything except for them, including her muscles and her extremities. Even if they could stitch the thigh wound, it would be remarkable if she could fully recover from this excursion. The thought terrified her.

"I'm fine, but you're not." Finn's voice came from the edge of the hole. "We've got Bellamy tied to a rope. We're going to let him down now. Just, whatever you do, don't close your eyes okay?" Clarke only hummed in response, blinking slowly and trying to follow Finn's instructions, even though everything in her was screaming to just let go and go to sleep.

It didn't take long for Bellamy to repel down the hole, even stopping every few minutes to hack up a lung into his elbow. When he finally reached the ground, he dropped to his knees and brushed Clarke's hair out of her eyes.

"What took so long?" She asked weakly, trying to smile up at him. It came out as more of a pained grimace. It was supposed to be a joke, but Bellamy's face dropped into an expression akin to self-hatred and he looked away, removing his hand from her forehead and clenching it into a fist.

"I'm sorry." Clarke wasn't sure, but she thought it sounded like his voice trembled. "Jake and Anna...well, I'm punishing them. But let's not talk about that, okay?" He asked, bending over her and taking her numb hands in his. "Jesus Clarke, you're freezing. We can't take you anywhere until you warm up a little." Suddenly, without warning, Bellamy wrapped his arms around Clarke's frozen body. She gasped as the contact sent painful spikes through her body and tried not to cry out as Bellamy roughly rubbed his hands up and down her back. She knew it had to be done, but god she wished it didn't. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Clarke didn't think she'd ever heard Bellamy apologize so much. "God Clarke, I'm so sorry I didn't come sooner." She closed her eyes, ignoring the few tears that froze on her eyelashes and pushed her face into Bellamy's shoulder, lifting her heavy arms and putting them around his torso, fingers clenching at his jacket.

"It's okay." She mumbled, so softly even she could barely hear herself. "You still came." She replied. Bellamy laughed humorlessly, the sound vibrating through him into her.

"Of course. What would our camp be without our princess?" He replied, a bout of coughing suddenly wracking his body. Clarke gripped him tighter as his coughs rang loudly through her ears. She could feel his body trembling, even after he'd finished coughing, and she knew he needed to get back to camp.

"You need to go back to camp." She whispered, momentarily forgetting that she was the one who was actually in trouble.

"Who's the one who actually needs to get back?" He asked rhetorically, but stood anyway with her still trapped in his arms. She let out a gasp of pain as her partial weight came to rest on her legs, pain shooting through them, and clenched her teeth to keep from crying out. "It's okay. You're okay." Bellamy assured, taking all of her weight in his arms. "Pull us up, guys." He called to the top of the hole, bracing his feet on the wall as Octavia and Finn started to heave the two of them to the top of the hole.

When the two of them finally rolled over the edge of the hole onto the snowy ground, Finn immediately pulled Clarke out of the snow and draped two more jackets over her shoulders, peering into her drooping eyes before pulling her body flush against his and fisting her hair tightly.

"Thank god." He whispered, breathing heavily. "Thank god you're not..." He couldn't finish his sentence, swallowing harshly. Clarke knew what he was going to say.

"Bellamy!" Octavia suddenly exclaimed. Clarke fought in Finn's hold, turning and dropping to her knees, barely wincing at the fiery pain that shot through her legs as she saw Bellamy collapse to his side, coughing harshly.

"We need to get them back to camp now." Octavia commanded, pulling Bellamy up and draping his arm over her shoulders as Finn scooped Clarke into his arms. "It's okay, Bell, I gotcha. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." She promised to Bellamy's limp figure. Finn quickly followed behind her, Clarke's dead weight resting in his arms like the weight of the world. If they couldn't get her warmed up in the next few minutes, she was going to...to die. The realization made tears rise to Finn's eyes before he furiously shook his head. He refused. He refused to let Clarke leave like that.

He almost cried with relief when the wall came into view, and both he and Octavia sped up the pace. The whole camp fell silent as the two entered, and Jasper and Monty met them in the middle.

"We've got Bellamy's pallet still set up, and we made up one for Clarke right next to it." Jasper ducked under Bellamy's other shoulder, taking the rest of his weight. He and Octavia practically carried the tall man back to his pallet.

"Clarke." Bellamy muttered, fighting the two of them as they tried to tuck blankets around him.

"Bell stop. You're really sick." Octavia tried to capture his wrists as he flailed at them, knocking their hands away.

"Clarke." He stated with more vigor, sitting up despite Octavia's best efforts to keep him down. "She needs to be warmed up." His eyes fluttered and he fell back, breathing evening out.

"Finn-" Octavia started, turning around to see the boy already stripping his shirt and pants. "Finn!" She exclaimed, lunging for his hands as he unbuttoned his pants and dropped them to his ankles.

"This is the best way to combat hypothermia." Finn explained. "Help me get her clothes off. We can deal with the cut on her thigh after we get past the immediate danger." Octavia nodded, undoing Clarke's pants as Finn yanked her shirt over her head.

"Stop." She murmured, weakly trying to fight them back. "Finn, stop. I'm not-" Finn gently grasped her face between his hands, forcing her to look at him.

"If we don't get you warmed up, you will die." He stated firmly, searching her eyes. She sighed before dropping her hands to her side and nodding. "Good." Finn climbed under the furs they'd piled on top of her, wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her against him. She tucked her head under his chin, pressing her frozen face against his bare chest and tucking her hands under his arms. He bit his lip against the urge to cry out as the frozen hands met the sensitive skin of his underarms. "Jesus." He murmured, rubbing his hands up and down her back. "You're okay. We're not going to let you die." He assured her.

"Thank you." Her breath barely billowed across Finn's neck before her breathing deepened and her tight grip on Finn loosened.

"Clarke? Clarke, wake up! You can't go to sleep yet!" He shook her, panic making his nostrils flare and his eyes widen. She didn't respond as he breathing dropped even more. He removed one arm from holding her to press two fingers against her neck. Her pulse moved sluggishly under them, and Finn had a sudden panic attack. "Clarke!" He practically screamed, violently shaking her.

"Finn?" Octavia scrambled over to the two of them, her eyes wide, tears dripping down her cheeks slightly.

"If she doesn't wake up..." He let the sentence trail off, but he didn't need to finish it. Both of them knew what would happen if Clarke didn't wake up. She would die.


	13. Chapter 12

**I hope everyone had an amazing and safe Christmas! I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've been on vacation for the past week, but I really hope this chapter makes up for it! In this story, I made Murphy a bad guy of sorts, obviously. There's been no contact with the Ark, but Raven is on the ground, so it completely diverges from the actual plot line, just thought I would clarify. :)**

Bellamy had all but worn himself out. He'd gone from pacing around Clarke's pallet to sitting by her head and talking to her limp form. Now he was leaned back against the wall absently fiddling with a strand of her blonde hair and wondering if she was ever going to wake up, or if hers was going to be one of the bodies they had to bury when the ground unfroze. Bellamy shook the thought out of his head. He'd never allow it.

"Bell, you should eat something." Octavia's quiet voice broke him from his thoughts. He looked up, letting Clarke's hair slip through his fingers to rest on the cold drop ship floor. His little sister was standing in front of him holding a handful of meager berries and nuts, the only thing the hunting parties had managed to bring back.

"Yeah." He murmured, carelessly tossing them into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed without tasting them as Octavia sat next to him with a large sigh. The two Blake siblings sat in silence, both lost in thought, until Bellamy broke it. "Do you think we'll make it through?" He asked, not looking at his sister as he stared down at Clarke's lax face.

"Honestly? I wish I could say yes." Bellamy nodded at his sister's answer, already having known that would be it. "With Clarke out like this...we're practically dead already. She's our only medic." Octavia threw her head back against the wall with a loud huff. "Bell...it's been three days and she's not getting any better." The silence that followed spoke volumes that no words ever could. Bellamy looked down, wishing he could deny what Octavia was saying.

"I know." He replied, trying to keep his voice from cracking so that his sister wouldn't know how scared he actually was about losing Clarke.

"We need to start thinking about options." Octavia's voice was sincere, but scared, and a tear rolled from her eye.

"What options are there to think about?!" Bellamy snapped angrily, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah burial or cremation, right?" He scoffed, closing his eyes against his sister's muted noise of surprised hurt.

"We should hold a funeral." She barely whispered, cowering as she waited for her brother's hot fury. Instead, Bellamy sagged against the wall miserably. He opened his mouth to answer, but the voice that reached their ears wasn't his.

"Are you serious?!" Octavia looked up, startled to see Jasper and Monty standing in front of them. "You're giving up just like that?!" Jasper stared incredulously at the two Blake siblings, who suddenly felt much smaller than they actually were.

"It's been three days, Jasper." Octavia stated, refusing to look at the two boys. Jasper laughed cynically, startling the two siblings.

"So that's it then? You're just going to give up on her? There's no light at the end of the tunnel huh? That's fine. You guys can go ahead and give up, but that doesn't mean the rest of us are. Clarke is one of us, and until she stops breathing of her own choice, we're not going to give up on her." Jasper snapped, turning his back to the siblings. "We're not ones to turn our back our own people, but if you want to then knock yourselves out." He strode away from them quickly with Monty at his side, the latter casting short glares at the two siblings over his shoulder.

"He's right, you know." Octavia spoke after a few moments of tense silence between the Blake siblings. "Clarke would never give up on us like that." Bellamy scoffed and stood, stretching his arms over his head carelessly.

"Whatever. I'm not digging her grave." He stormed out of the drop ship, leaving Octavia alone with the limp Clarke, biting her lip and resisting the urge to run after her infuriating older brother and beat his head in with a rock.

"Pretty rough, huh?" Octavia gasped as Murphy dropped from the second level of the drop ship. "Bellamy's always been rough around the edges though, hasn't he? Even when you guys were younger, I bet he was like this." Octavia sneered at him, trying to burn lasers through his head.

"No, actually, he wasn't like this until I went to jail." She snapped back, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth as Murphy smiled lazily.

"Well, he's pretty much perfect for his leadership position, given his knack to be unforgiving and merciless. If he thinks Clarke isn't useful anymore, he'll take her out himself." The boy informed Octavia. She let out a low growl, but Murphy didn't seem to hear her. "I personally think it would be best if she was just gone anyway. Even if she does wake up, and that's a huge if, she probably won't be of much use to us anymore. I'm no medical expert, but she's probably suffered some huge brain damage from the cold, and then being passed out for so long. She's really just taking up space." He went on conversationally.

"Shut up, Murphy." Octavia snapped, standing to her full height and fixing Murphy with a glare of stone. "You don't know anything. Clarke is strong. She'll be okay." Octavia didn't know if she was trying to convince Murphy or herself.

"You don't even believe that, Octavia. I can see it in your eyes." Murphy smirked, rolling his neck and taking a leisurely pace towards the entrance of the drop ship. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, though." He lifted a hand in a lazy wave as he ducked out of the drop ship, leaving Octavia well and truly alone.

"You've gotta wake up, Clarke. We need you." Octavia murmured, dropping to her butt on the cold, unforgiving ground. "At first, I thought you were just a self-entitled princess, like everyone else on Phoenix station, but as I got to know you better, I realized that you're stronger than anyone else here. Even my brother. You've overcome more obstacles than anyone else while on the ground, and you've done it alone, without the support of anyone, because everybody hated you. But now, we all respect you Clarke, and we all need you. So just wake up so you can see that." The dark haired girl stared hopefully down into Clarke's face, searching for any hint of a reaction. There was nothing. Octavia let out a miserable sigh and closed her eyes, sagging back against the wall and letting the tears fall from her eyes. Maybe it was really hopeless. Maybe they were going to have to learn how to survive without Clarke's medical experience.

Octavia tried to think about an existence without Clarke's presence. The blonde girl was always so comforting. Even when she didn't know what to do, she had this air of confidence that soothed everyone in the camp and made them want to trust her. She was the one that Octavia had started going to with problems, any problems at all, not just medical. She was the one that Finn had latched onto and, eventually, Bellamy too, though he would deny it if anyone ever tried to point it out. The camp would feel completely empty, and Octavia would be scared. The whole camp would be scared. Nobody would say it out loud, but everyone acknowledged it, and everyone knew it was entirely true. Bellamy was strong, and a loud voice that people wanted to follow, but Clarke was the true brains behind their operations, and Clarke was the one that everyone looked to for guidance. Even Bellamy got scared sometimes, but Clarke seemed invincible to fear.

"That's a lot to put on one person." Octavia murmured to herself, not opening her eyes. "Maybe that's why she isn't waking up. Maybe all of that pressure got to her more than she let us see." The words hurt Octavia, not because Clarke wasn't as strong as Octavia wished she was, but because she'd probably been suffering a lot and hadn't told anybody, because she was the strong one. Because everyone was leaning on her, so she had to hold herself and them up. That was a mistake that, if she woke up, Octavia wouldn't make again. "Sorry Clarke. That was too much for you to handle. We won't let that happen again, but you gotta wake up okay? I know it's hard down here on Earth, and it's a lot easier to just let go, but that's not fair to just leave us here like this. We don't know half of the medical stuff you do. If you die, you're sentencing all of us to death as well. I know it isn't fair to you, and that's also a lot to put on one person, but if you wake up I'll start helping out a lot more, and you can teach me everything. I'll become your apprentice. I want to learn from you, Clarke. I want you to teach me. But you can't do it if you're dead." Octavia put her hand up to her mouth, choking around the sudden blockage in her throat. "Please don't leave me here alone like this. You're my only girl friend." She sniffled, rubbing her nose with her sleeve and trying to compose herself.

"Don't write me off." A sudden weak voice met Octavia's ears. She gasped and looked down, meeting Clarke's blue eyes. "I didn't plan on going anywhere, so don't start planning my funeral yet." A loud laugh suddenly bubbled past Octavia's lips as tears of joy started sliding down her cheeks, replacing the sadness with a happiness that soared in Octavia's chest and made her feel like she might take off at any second.

"Water, I'm going to get you some water. Then I gotta get Bell. Oh my god, I can't believe you finally woke up!" Clarke smiled weakly as Octavia rushed away, still laughing with joy. When she came back, she had a cup of water, as well as Bellamy, Jasper, and Monty in tow. They all greeted Clarke joyfully and told her what she missed-not much-before leaving her alone with Bellamy.

"Don't scare me like that again, Princess." Bellamy commanded, a frown deepening his face. "I was seriously about to clear a space for you by the rest of the bodies." Clarke let out a weak laugh, setting the empty cup down next to her head and grinning up at Bellamy.

"No promises, Blake." She smiled. He snorted, taking a seat next to her head and sighing heavily.

"Seriously though, Clarke. I was freaked out." He informed her, letting out a dry laugh and staring straight ahead. "So next time just...wake up quicker okay?" Clarke smiled and reached out, grasping the sleeve of Bellamy's jacket. He turned to look at her.

"I promise I will not leave you until I'm good and ready to leave you, Bellamy Blake."


	14. Chapter 13

**Here's the next chapter! I'm so glad you guys keep reviewing and leaving me really nice notes! It puts a huge smile on my face every day to log on and read those and I couldn't be more grateful that you're supporting my writing like this! :)**

"Our hunting parties actually brought back small game to the camp. Seems like the worst of it is over." Bellamy glanced up into Clarke's blue eyes before looking back down at the knife he was sharpening. The blonde leader hummed in response, glaring down at Bellamy with narrowed eyes, arms crossed over her chest. "You can be mad all you want, Princess, but even you can't deny I'm right." He pointed out, an smug expression overtaking his features.

"I feel fine, Bellamy." She snapped in response, tapping her foot impatiently. Bellamy snorted quietly.

"Two days ago you were on the brink of death, and now you want me to just pretend like that never happened and let you go out, to where there are grounders and more grounder traps waiting? Dream on." He didn't need to look up to know the expression that was crossing her face right about now. Somewhere in between mute acceptance and furious irritation.

"Would you put that down and look at me?!" Clarke exclaimed, groaning out loud when Bellamy ignored her, turning the small blade over in his hand. With a wild lunge, she swiped the knife out of his hand, smirking at his incredulous expression as he finally looked up at her. "You can have this back when you realize that the most important thing right now is gathering supplies, not keeping me cooped up inside camp because you're afraid something is going to happen. You'd better watch out, or I'll sneak out like Octavia and find myself a nice Grounder to sidle up to." Clarke immediately knew that she'd gone too far as Bellamy's expression deadpanned.

"Get out." He pointed to the entrance of his tent, eyes burning with fury.

"Bellamy-" She started to apologize, carefully setting his knife down on the bed next to him as a gesture of peace.

"Did you not hear me? Get. Out." She knew he was holding himself back from yelling at her, though she didn't know whether that was because he thought she was still healing or because he truly didn't want to yell at her. Either way, she knew when she'd crossed the line and was no longer welcome. She backed out of the tent, not looking Bellamy in the eyes, and spun around. Octavia was standing behind her with a disapproving scowl etched across her face.

"That was kind of low, Clarke." She pointed out, arms crossed over her chest. "My brother is just worried about you, and for you to throw that in his face was pretty bitchy, and that's coming from me." Clarke nodded, dropping her eyes to the ground.

"Yeah, you're right." She agreed, clearing her throat before looking back up at Octavia. "Did you need something?" She asked, forgetting whose tent she was actually standing in front of.

"Yeah. From my brother." Octavia brushed past her, fingers just barely skimming her arm, and she threw a wink over her shoulder so Clarke knew she wasn't really that upset with the blonde girl. Clarke smiled unsurely and meandered towards the middle of the camp, where she stood and observed the hustle around her. With Bellamy keeping her on lockdown like this, she didn't know what to do anymore. It became clear Octavia's reasons for sneaking out of camp whenever she could.

"Hey Clarke, I need a favor." Miller approached her, a kind smile on his face, a gun slung over his shoulder. Clarke jumped at the chance to do something other than sit in the drop ship counting bugs.

"Anything Miller, what's up?" She asked with a bright smile. Miller cleared his throat and looked away, cheeks tinged pink.

"Listen, this is kind of embarrassing but...nature is calling." Clarke nodded knowingly with an amused smile. Because of the frozen ground, the kids had decided to move their toilet 'facilities', which were really just holes in the ground, pretty far from the camp so the smell didn't bother anyone. They were on a buddy system for the time being until the ground thawed and they could return to using their normal bathroom spots.

"Sure, but why me?" Clarke asked curiously as she followed Miller to the entrance of the camp. He walked next to her through the frozen forest, which was slowly starting to thaw. Clarke could see the signs of life, just like Bellamy had said.

"You look like you're about to kill somebody out of boredom, so I thought I'd free you for a while. Bell won't get mad at you if you're with me." Miller smiled generously, but Clarke scoffed loudly.

"He's got no right to be mad at me for coming and going as I damn well please. I'm not a child, and I'm certainly not obliged to follow his orders." She held her head higher, pride straightening her form. Miller laughed loudly.

"That's definitely true, Clarke, but I think you're misunderstanding his intentions. Bellamy isn't trying to rule you or order you around. He's worried about you. We were all pretty freaked out when they finally came back to camp with you, but he was always by your side, from the moment he was well enough to sit up again. I think he was experiencing true terror for those three days you were comatose. Just...keep that in mind okay? Here, hold this while I go." He held his gun out, smiling as Clarke took it before taking off the last few yards to the toilet area. Clarke held the gun absentmindedly, chewing her lip and pondering Miller's words. She'd known that Bellamy was scared. Hell, he'd told her himself, but Clarke hadn't realized that he hadn't left her side since he'd woken up. That was really admirable, especially for Bellamy Blake.

A rustling in the trees beyond tore her from her thoughts and she was immediately on guard, holding the gun up, finger poised above the trigger. Her heard pounded wildly and she could hear the blood roaring in her ears as the rustling approached her. Closer and closer it got, tenser and tenser Clarke got until finally...

"Whoa, Clarke, put the gun down!" Clarke breathed a sigh of relief, dropping the gun and flicking the safety back on.

"Jesus Murphy, don't scare me like that." She muttered as he smiled sheepishly. "Why are you out here alone? What about the buddy system?" She asked, suddenly realizing that Murphy wasn't with anyone else.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to have someone standing a few yards away while I do my business. Can't you just wait for me up the way and I'll walk back with you and Miller?" He asked, brushing past her just as Miller reappeared.

"Sure thing." Miller replied curtly, taking the gun back from Clarke as Murphy disappeared where Miller had just come from. The two of them walked up the path a little before stopping. "Something about that guy seriously rubs me the wrong way. I don't trust him." Miller admitted to Clarke, leaning back against the nearest tree. Clarke hummed, stretching her arms out in front of her and watching snow fall off of a branch in front of her. The two fell silent as they waited for Murphy, who didn't take long to do his business before he reappeared before them. "Let's head back then." Miller nodded, letting Murphy take the lead as he fell back with Clarke. When the three of them returned to camp, the first thing Clarke noticed was that Bellamy was nowhere to be found. A sense of disappointment overwhelmed her and she couldn't help but frown. Was he really so mad he hadn't even noticed she was gone? Miller smirked. "I'm sure he noticed." He practically read her mind, patting her on the shoulder before moving back to his post at the east side of the wall. Murphy moved away too, leaving Clarke in the entrance of the camp alone.

"Clarke!" Raven came hurrying towards Clarke with a huge grin on her face. Clarke wandered towards her, curious as to what had the engineer so worked up that she'd actually willingly approach Clarke. The two of them weren't exactly on the best terms at the time. "I made contact with the Ark!" Clarke's mouth gaped open and she hurried after Raven to her tent, ducking inside to see a large radio set up. Raven put on a headset, pressing a button before speaking. "Abby, are you still there? Clarke is here." Raven waited a few seconds before handing the headset to Clarke. The blonde girl took it and hesitantly sat where Raven had just been, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Clarke?" Her mom's voice, crackly and broken, but no doubt her mom, came through. Tears stung Clarke's eyes.

"Mom." She breathed, her voice trembling.

"Oh my god, sweetie, it's so amazing to hear your voice again. It's so amazing to get to talk to you." Abby sniffled on the other end and Clarke rubbed at her eyes. It didn't do much difference, the tears still pooled and threatened to fall. She vaguely noticed Raven duck out of the tent to give her some privacy and thanked the other girl silently. "Tell me everything."

What felt like two hours later, Clarke had spilled everything and was leaving Raven's tent with her head down to block out the tears still on her cheeks. She hoped she could make it to the drop ship before the sobs came bursting out of her chest like a flood.

"Clarke, I need to speak with you about the hunting parties." Bellamy's voice sounded to her right. Clarke didn't look up or acknowledge that he'd even spoken. He let out a huff of frustration. "We're not going to get anywhere if we can't even talk after a little dispute like that." He snapped, growing even more frustrated when Clarke didn't move. It was then that he realized with a jolt that her shoulders were shaking minutely, and he could just barely hear the tiny sniffles she was giving every few seconds. Clarke was crying.

Bellamy's mind started flying at ninety miles an hour, trying to come up with a reasonable cause for the strongest person he knew to be crying, but nothing came to mind. She couldn't be crying because of his behavior, right? She'd been in the wrong anyway, saying something like that to him. No, she wouldn't cry because of that. He glanced up at the tent she'd just exited. It was Raven's. Something to do with Finn? The thought made something in his chest twist and his breath caught slightly.

"Clarke..." He reached out to touch her shoulder cautiously. She seemed to awake from some sort of trance, slowly turning her head to look up at him. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks a bright red, and tears still trailed down her cheeks. Bellamy's chest ached.

"I talked to my mom." Her lips quivered and her threw her hands up to her mouth, ducking her head again and turning her back to the man. "Excuse me." She barely murmured before hurrying towards the drop ship, all eyes on her. Bellamy sneered at everyone who dared to watch her, catching all of their eyes only briefly before they all turned away back to their own jobs. Bellamy went after Clarke and found her on the top level of the drop ship, knees pulled up to her chest, turning something over in her hand. A jolt of nausea shot through Bellamy as he noticed that it was the tool he'd shoved through Lincoln's hand.

He took a seat next to her so that their shoulders were just barely brushing, and took the tool from her hand. He tossed it to the side, but didn't look anywhere but straight forward. And so the two of them sat, Clarke sniffling every so often, but other than that silent. And it was all Clarke needed, to feel that strong presence. Bellamy Blake was all Clarke needed.


	15. Chapter 14

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I just got back from a cruise vacation, so I haven't had internet or phone service. Enjoy!**

It had been at least a month since the first snow fall, and so far only a few of the one hundred had died from the cold weather, but food was sparse, and sickness was weakening the camp. The diseased were stepping into Clarke's medical bay every day with colds that normally should have been easy for the body to fight off, but because of the malnutrition and the practically unbearable nights, the kids were weakened. Clarke was up almost 24/7 to make sure they had what they needed, but she'd already lost three of them and two more were on their way out. And in the middle of it all, she'd had to make time every day to report back to the Ark, who was working to send medical supplies and medicine down to the kids, but unable to properly pinpoint their location.

"There's no way we can hike in this weather." Clarke was shaking her head even though her mother couldn't see her. "If the supplies land too far away, I won't be able to get to them." She rubbed her face tiredly and tried to reinvigorate her eyes, which were burning with exhaustion.

"I know." Abby replied shortly, crossing her arms and feeling a migraine develop behind her eyes. "We're doing the best we can, Clarke, but our connection is weak at best and it's been hard to locate you exactly." She snapped, though Clarke had already been informed that many times.

"Yeah." She replied, not having the energy to argue with her mom anymore. "Listen, I've got a bay full of sick kids. I'm going to get off now. Raven will be stationed here if there's an update. I love you mom, and I miss you." She stated tiredly.

"I love you and miss you too." Abby sighed before the connection cut off. Clarke closed her eyes against the rising levels of stress and exhaustion creeping across her mind. She couldn't afford to be foggy, people's lives depended on her.

"Clarke, you're going to kill yourself." The blonde leader looked up to see Octavia standing behind her, wearing an expression that scarily resembled her older brother when he was scolding Clarke. She gnawed on her lip and shrugged her shoulders. "I've had enough training. Let me take a few shifts so you can rest." She practically begged the medic.

"I know." Was the only thing Clarke responded with, standing up and brushing past Octavia, striding through the camp with her head high even though her vision was swimming and she could barely see the entrance of the drop ship as the world spun in front of her. When she finally made it into the drop ship, her ears and nostrils were assaulted with the sound and smell of violent retching. She blinked the blurriness out of her eyes and rushed towards Harper in the back of the drop ship, who was leaned over a bucket and expelling bile and dark crimson blood. Clarke bit down on her own nausea as she retrieved a cup of clean water and held the girl's long hair back.

"I'm going to die." Harper whispered once she was finished, slumping back. Clarke shook her head vigorously.

"No. No you aren't. I'm not going to let that happen." She snapped, suddenly feeling much less tired and more determined. After settling Harper back down onto her pallet, the blonde girl rushed across the clearing back to the communications tent.

"Ground to Ark." She spoke into the headset, immediately getting a response.

"Clarke, what is it?" Her mom asked, a panicked tinge to her voice that Clarke didn't think she'd ever heard.

"We can't wait for that medicine any longer. Our people will die if you don't drop it. I'll hike for it with Finn, Jasper, and Bellamy." She snapped, her strong demand leaving no room for her mother's argument.

"Clarke, I don't like that." Abby warned. Clarke rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"I don't care. We're going to die down here, mom. Do you understand that? Drop the supplies." She snapped, voice sounding almost hysterical. After a few seconds of silence, her mother let out a deep sigh.

"Fine. Watch for it in the next few hours." Abby quickly disconnected the line before Clarke could say anything else. On the ground, the blonde girl leaned back with an almost victorious smile growing on her face.

"If you're going on a hike, you need to get some rest." Clarke jumped as Bellamy's voice sounded behind her. She stood and turned around, meeting his brown eyes. The concern in them made her blanch. "I'm not carrying you if you collapse. Let Octavia handle the patients for a few hours, and I'll watch for the drop. Go to your tent and sleep." He nodded his head back towards the entrance of the tent. Clarke nodded and brushed past him, hand just barely brushing his. Electric sparks jumped between the two of them and she quickly hurried away through the thin layer of snow still on the ground.

Her tent was cold, but she quickly warmed up under her furs and fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as she'd warmed up and closed her eyes. She was knocked out, too deep asleep to even dream.

She didn't know how long she'd been asleep, but Bellamy was shaking her shoulder and as she cracked her eyes open, she saw him standing above her. The sun filtered slightly through the crack in the flap of her tent and Bellamy was holding two backpacks in his hands.

"The drop came down a few hours ago, but I wanted you to sleep a little bit longer. You look a lot better." He informed her as she rolled out of her furs and stretched, feeling more alert and invigorated than she had in days. "Jasper and Finn are already waiting." She nodded, taking one of the packs from him, and followed him out of her tent.

The camp had a sense of solemn hope, silent as the delinquents watched the group of four meet up by the gate. Miller was standing by Finn, talking to him and Jasper in soft tones. The two boys were nodding, holding guns loosely and looking up into Miller's eyes.

"Miller's in charge while we're gone." Bellamy called, his voice floating over all of the heads in the camp. "When we come back, we'll have enough supplies and medicine for everyone, but we'll handle the distribution and nobody will argue about it. Clear?" Heads nodded and thumbs went up. "We're going now." The group of four turned towards the gate.

"Clarke!" A voice called. The blonde leader turned around to see Octavia ducking through the crowd with a rifle in her hand. "Here, it's mine but you probably need it more than I do." She held the gun out with a smile. "Come back safe, okay?" She asked as Clarke took the gun from her hand.

"We will." Clarke promised, slinging the strap over her back and letting the gun settle in her hands. She'd never been much of a gun person, but they were at a war with the grounders and danger was lurking around every tree.

"See you soon." Octavia lifted her hand in a wave as the four headed into the woods, watching until the gate swung shut, barring them from her vision. Her smile dropped and she blinked the tears out of her eyes, hoping this wasn't the last time she ever saw them.


	16. Chapter 15

**I hope you don't mind two updates at once, to make up for all of the missed days I've been gone!**

The forest was silent, the only sound interrupting the stillness the crack of leaves and twigs under the small party's footfalls. Clarke liked it when it was like this, no grounders or injuries to worry about.

"The crate dropped in that direction." Bellamy pointed to the North, through a thick patch of dense trees. Clarke frowned at the seemingly impossible path, but started towards it anyway, taking up the front with Jasper right behind her and Finn and Bellamy spread to the side of them, watching and listening for any movement in the trees. Clarke felt secure with the ragtag group of kids, more secure than she ever had on the Ark.

Snaking through the trees proved to be a difficult challenge as they squeezed themselves into holes small enough for small game, but not really fit for humans. Clarke lost count of the cuts and scrapes she received as she led the group through the trees. In the thick grove, all sounds seemed to be muted. Not even the tweet of a bird could be heard. The snow hadn't touched the ground here-the tops of the trees were too close together, and she could see the evidence of small animals scurrying around under her feet.

She climbed over a large trunk and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw an open field, probably about as big as the Ark, in front of them. On the other side, just inside the tree-line, was the supply drop. They hadn't been far off in their location pinpoint.

"There it is!" She pointed, taking a few steps into the open field and relishing the sun on her face.

"Clarke!" She was suddenly jerked back just as a spear flew right at where she'd been standing. Jasper was still holding the strap of her gun at her shoulder and she was pressed against his chest, feeling his heart beating rapidly through her back.

"Thanks Jasper." She stepped to the side, nodding at him in acknowledgment. He nodded back, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"One of us is going to have to run." Bellamy gritted his teeth in anger, sighting down his scope for the Grounders in the trees. "I can see four. Finn, got any on that side?" He asked to the other boy.

"Two." Finn reported back, holding the gun expertly. Clarke took a deep breath and shed her gun, flicking the safety on and dropping it against a tree trunk. She emptied the contents of her pack, which was just a few nuts and a fog blanket.

"I'll run. I'm the fastest here." She rolled her shoulders and bent her knees slightly, knowing the ground was going to be uneven. Finn, Jasper, and Bellamy shared a look, all knowing it was true, but not liking it at all.

"Be careful." Finn said softly, giving her a meaningful look. "We need you." She nodded with a confident smile despite her pounding heart and the fearful adrenaline that was already pumping through her veins.

"I'm always careful." She replied, readying herself. She took a few deep breaths, letting all noise fade from her ears and concentrating solely on the crate across the field. "Just like gym class." She muttered to herself before taking off.

She'd been right, the ground was uneven and the tall grass made it hard to run, but she pumped her legs and propelled herself forward with all of the might she could. She heard the spear to her left and dove, rolling forward and jumping back to her feet in one fluid motion, never once losing velocity. Two more spears came her way, one from each side and she lengthened her strides, hearing them strike the ground just behind her. She breathed evenly, never once looking away from the crate though she could hear Bellamy and Finn shouting at each other through the gunshots behind her. Didn't matter. All that mattered was getting to the crate.

She made it after what felt like an hour, skidding to a stop and dropping to her knees. The gun fire had silenced and she could hear the rustling in the trees above her. She dodged to the left just as the grounder dropped onto the ground in front of her. A small blade glinted in his hands and she lifted her fists and danced on her toes, ducking as the knife arced above her head. She struck out with her right hand catching the grounder's chin with a force that sent him to the ground. He was a young man, probably about her age or maybe a few years younger. He looked up at her, his green eyes just barely visible under his furs, glowing with respect.

"You are as fierce as they say, sky walker." His voice was deep, but his English was smooth. He lifted to his feet and removed the hood from his head, revealing his dark hair underneath. "You are lucky your warriors did not hit any of my people with those things." He motioned towards Bellamy, Jasper, and Finn who were all sighting down their scopes at Clarke and the grounder.

"Who are you?" Clarke asked unsurely, hesitantly lowering her fists to her sides. The boy smiled, revealing his pearly white teeth.

"My name is Talbish. Call me Tal." Clarke decided not to say anything about the strange name. "And you are Clarke, yes? Aiden spoke very highly of you." Clarke perked at the name immediately.

"Aiden? He's alive?!" She exclaimed with wide eyes. Tal's eyes saddened and he shook his head.

"Aiden is what we call a dream walker. His spirit visited me in a dream." Tal explained. Clarke narrowed her eyes in confusion. "There is a lot you do not know about our culture, Clarke of the sky people. We are not merely savages, and we do not just hunt and fight." Clarke nodded slowly. That made sense. "This was a test, Clarke of the sky people. And you have passed. I will return to my elders and the leader of my people with the results, but you must come with me." Clarke glanced over her shoulder at the three remaining on the other side of the field.

"I'm here with others." She turned back to Tal, taken aback by the smile on his face, the sun bouncing off of his browned skin.

"I can see that." He laughed slightly. "They may come as well, but they can't use those while we're in the village." He explained. Clarke nodded and lifted her hand, motioning for the other three to join them.

They ran, though not nearly as fast as Clarke had, and made it over to her and the grounder in a few seconds time.

"What does he want?" Bellamy demanded, gun aimed straight for Tal's face, sights trained between his eyes. Clarke took the barrel of the gun and forcefully lowered it, blocking Bellamy's view of the grounder.

"You need to trust me. Do you trust me?" She asked, not answering his question. He nodded in confusion. "Good. We're going to pick up these supplies, and then we're going to follow Tal to his village." She dropped to her knees and heaved the lid of the small crate off. The Ark hadn't sent much, just a large amount of vials of medicine and packets of sealed food. It was enough until they could get a larger container and a larger group together. Clarke easily fit all of the supplies into her bag, taking her gun from Jasper's arms and slinging it around her back.

"Are you serious? As prisoners?!" Bellamy shouted. Clarke stood up, putting her hand solemnly on his shoulders.

"As willing ambassadors." She replied, not giving him time to respond as she turned to Tal. "Okay, Tal. We're ready." He nodded and turned, heading towards the trees.

"I hope you are not opposed to meeting my elders." He stated, making it sound like they didn't really have a choice. Clarke didn't answer, fear making her heart beat heavily. She really hoped she wasn't making the wrong decision here.


	17. Chapter 16

**I'm so so sorry I haven't been able to update gah! :(**

Clarke held her head high, despite the hostile looks being sent their way as the four outsiders were led through the Grounder village, with Tal in front of Clarke, glancing back every so often to send the three of them encouraging, if not slightly nervous, smiles. The cautionary way he held his body made Clarke's heart race. It was clear that he knew her people weren't welcomed in their camps.

"TALBISH! YOU DARE TO BRING THEM HERE, WITH THOSE WAR-MAKERS!" A deep voice rang through the camp, silencing all mutterings and making Clarke stand up straighter, with a tighter grip on her rifle. Bellamy took a step closer to her, so close that she could feel the body heat radiating from him. It comforted her.

"Aiden spoke to me in a dream, Elder Mikael. He spoke of their bravery, and the kindness with which their leader, Clarke, had treated him in his short stay at their camp." Tal defended in a respectful tone, bowing his head as the Elder, a tall man with a gray beard and no hair on his head, thundered toward the group of five. It took everything in Clarke's body not to raise her gun protectively. She met the Elder's eyes bravely, but couldn't hide the mute fear in her eyes nor the minute tremble in her legs. Even with Bellamy behind her, knowing he would catch her if she stumbled, she felt so alone.

"We should not talk in the middle of the camp." The Elder finally conceded, turning around and gesturing the five of them towards his hut, which was in the center of the camp and was much bigger than all of the other wooden huts around it. Clarke followed Tal in wondering if this had been a good idea or if she should have listened to Bellamy and just sent Tal on his way.

"Don't worry about it." There was suddenly a husky voice in her ear, a warm breath caressing her cheek from behind. She turned slightly, the ends of Bellamy's hair tickling her cheeks as she nodded minutely. He was right, she was freaking out too much.

"Why do you bring these killers here?" Elder Mikael snapped as soon as the door shut behind them, the hut immersed in darkness save the flickering fire in the center of the floor. Tal dropped to his knees in front of the elder, bowing his head to the floor.

"Because I believe in peace, Elder, and you should too. Aiden has spoken from the stars to tell me this, and I think that you should listen as well." Tal spoke, face still to the floor, muffling his words. Clarke took a deep breath to calm her jittering nerves as the Elder turned his stone cold gaze on the party of four. She felt Bellamy fidget beside her and knew that he was trying just as hard as she was to maintain his composure.

"Tal, you are still young, and a new Dream Reader at that. I don't think that anyone would deliver such an important message to you." The Elder spoke. Clarke winced in sympathy, but Tal didn't seem fazed by the apparent insult to his skills.

"I'm well aware that I'm new and young, but I know what I saw." Tal persisted, still not looking up. The Elder looked away with a sigh, trying to reign in his irritation. "Please, Elder, just consider it."

"NO!" The elder lost his composure and Clarke held in a gasp as he struck out, sending Tal onto his side with a hard hit to the right cheek. The Elder towered over him, anger brightening the man's wise eyes. "I REFUSE TO MAKE PEACE WITH THOSE WHO ENTERED OUR TERRITORY AND THEN KILLED US WHEN WE TRIED TO DEFEND IT! LEAVE!" Clarke turned on her heel and fled the hut, not willing to stick around and find out what would happen if she refused. Her three companions were hot on her heels as she hurried from the camp, glancing back just enough to see Tal standing in the doorway with an apologetic smile on his face. Clarke felt sorry for him, knowing he was probably going to be punished for bringing them there.

As the four of them were running through the woods, the chilly air making Clarke's eyes water as she ducked around branches and hoped that nobody was following them. Soon, the towering walls of their camp came into view and Clarke was reminded of the sick people she needed to take care of. She hurried ahead of the others, ignoring Monty, who was demanding what had taken them so long, and ducking into the drop ship. She frantically counted the bodies on the floor. One was missing.

"I'm sorry, Clarke...Harper died a few hours ago." Octavia whispered, crouching over another boy who was breathing laboriously. Clarke didn't respond, instead dropping her backpack next to Octavia and retrieving the vials of medicine from it.

"Distribute these to every single person here. I don't want any more deaths, got it?" She demanded brusquely. Octavia nodded silently, head down as she went around, dropping a few drips of liquid into each patients mouth. Clarke went to the other side of the ship, doing the same thing.

She couldn't believe that Harper was dead, after Clarke had promised her that she wouldn't die. The blond medic shook her head and took a deep breath, wondering how Octavia was feeling having to deal with that alone. Had it been a violent death, with convulsing and gasping? Or had it been a peaceful death, in her sleep, painless? Clarke hoped for the second one, cursing herself for agreeing to go with Tal in the first place, when she should have hurried back. Harper had lost her life because Clarke had made a wrong decision.

"Octavia, why don't you go get some rest? I got this." Clarke finally spoke, breaking the tense silence in the drop ship. The black-haired girl smiled gratefully and made her way out of the drop ship, exhaustion seeping into her bones. She didn't know how Clarke managed all of that and still had time to help Bellamy lead the camp. She really was amazing.

With Octavia gone and the sick kids all asleep or unconscious, Clarke sank back against the wall, falling to her butt and dropping her forehead onto her knees. She'd really fucked up and Harper had paid the price. Why had she agreed to go with Tal in the first place? There'd only been a small possibility that the Elder would have even listened, which he hadn't, and she should have known that if they really wanted peace they could have waited just a few more days until the kids in the camp were back to full health.

"Don't beat yourself up too much, Clarke." She wasn't surprised to hear Bellamy's voice. He always seemed to know when she was in distress, or second guessing herself. "Harper probably would have died anyway, even if we'd made it back in time. She was too far gone. You knew that." Clarke nodded. She had known that. But the irrational side of her brain wanted to save everyone, and kept telling her that it was her job and her job alone to keep these kids healthy. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but we can't save everyone." Bellamy sighed. The words were harsh, but the tone he said them in was soft, and his hand rested on her upper arm softly.

"I know." she muttered, lifting her head to look at him.

"But I know what we can do." She cocked her head in confusion. "We can expect a response to that incident earlier, and we should be prepared for that, whatever it is. Whether it's biological warfare like last time, or a straight up attack, we need to be ready for it. Instead of dwelling on those we failed to save, how about we save those that we can." Bellamy stood up with a smile and held his hand down to Clarke. She grinned and took his hand, allowing him to pull her up. Sparks ran up her arms from the contact, but before she could read into it, his arms had suddenly surrounded her, her face mashed against his muscular chest. "Sorry Harper died. I know it's rough." She stood, dumbfounded, as he released her and left the drop ship without so much as a look back. She could see his neck tinged pink as he walked away from her, though. It matched her beet red face almost perfectly.


End file.
